Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 19
Trend:
Turkey's biggest mobile operator by users hired Citigroup Inc. and HSBC Holdings Plc to advise on the planned acquisition of the portion of TeliaSonera AB's Fintur Holdings that it doesn't already own, Bloomberg reported according to two people with knowledge of the matter.
Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri AS signed agreements with the advisers on Monday.
While Terzioglu confirmed that Turkcell has picked two advisers for the transaction, he declined to name them. A spokeswoman for Citigroup's Turkish unit declined to comment. HSBC didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
TeliaSonera owns 38 percent of Istanbul-based Turkcell, whose other shareholders are Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman's Alfa Group and Cukurova Holding AS of Turkey.
The Turkish mobile operator has a 41.45 percent stake in Rotterdam-based Fintur, with TeliaSonera holding the rest. Turkcell intends to gain control of Fintur, which runs mobile businesses in Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Moldova and Georgia, "in 2016 if all the negotiations go well," Chief Executive Officer Kaan Terzioglu told reporters Tuesday in Istanbul.
Turkcell plans to make acquisitions in nearby markets, with a focus on North Africa, the Balkans and Central Asia, to accelerate growth, Terzioglu said.
Terzioglu said his company has a three-year plan for expansion until the end of 2018, including becoming the largest mobile operator by sales in Turkey.
Fintur had 17.6 million users in the four countries it operates as of Sept. 30, almost half as many customers as Turkcell has in Turkey.