NEW YORK-A U.S. class action lawsuit was filed last week against Turkish cell-phone operator Turkcell. The lawsuit was commenced on behalf of all persons or entities purchasing Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetler A.S. American Depository Shares from July 10 to Sept. 21.
Turkcell, Turkey’s dominant cell-phone operator with more than 10 million subscribers, launched an initial public offering in July with a simultaneous listing of ADSs.
The complaint alleges that defendants Turkcell, Goldman Sachs International Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, Credit Suisse First Boston (Europe) Ltd., Lehman Brothers International (Europe), Deutsche Bank AG London, UBS AG, Cuneyt Turktan and Ekrem Tokay violated section 11 of the Securities Act of 1933. In particular, it is alleged the registration statement for the IPO misstated the churn rate for Turkcell’s cellular phone customers in Turkey by a factor of at least 30 and possibly 100.
The New York-based law firm of Rabin & Peckel L.L.P. is representing the plaintiff.
Turkcell last week also announced it signed a $50 million loan agreement with Turkey’s Akbank T.A. The three-year loan will finance Turkcell’s ongoing network investment, the carrier said.
