Telia Company ABA (STO:TELIA) has sold a portion of stock worth $500 million in Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. (ADR) (NYSE:TKC), to focus more on its home-based operations. The company intends to reduce its stake in the partnership agreement that has faced a long-term ownership dispute for almost a decade now.
The company owns about 38% shares in the Turkcell and it recently sold about 155 million shares to the institutional investors in a quick-fix offering that takes a very short period of time. The shares owned by the company were sold at a throw-away price roughly 7% lower than the market price in the Istanbul city.
Telia, a telecom company made a decision to change its strategy to concentrate on its operations in Nordic and Baltic. Telia announced in 2015 that it would slowly pull its operations out of its central Asian markets due to various problems including corruption allegations and challenges in accessing finances in foreign countries. The company has already sold its Tajik ventures to Aga Khan Fund.
Telia is the largest stakeholder in Turkcell which has other partners including the Russian tycoon Mikhail Fridman Cukurova Holdings AS and others. The business associates have been experienced a long battle for control and management of the company for several years. The feud among the partners has tied up the finances that could be used for expansion of the company’s operations leading to a stagnant growth.
Telia is currently looking for acquisition opportunities to spread out its operations in Nordic and Baltic nations, which are closer home. Since the company believes in closely controlled capital distribution, they want to ensure that their investments benefit and promote their core business strategy. The company made gross proceeds of almost $503 million in the recent sale of its shares in Turkcell.
The latest big sell has left Telia with about 7% direct shareholdings in the disputed company, Turkcell. The move marks the beginning of the grand plan to exit the central Asian markets and concentrating on building operations close to home country.
