HELSINKI, Finland—Sonera said it reached a deal with other shareholders of the Dutch holding company Fintur Holdings that will allow Sonera to increase its stake in the GSM businesses of the group.
Cukurova Group holds 39.69 percent of Fintur, Sonera has a 35.31-percent stake and Turkey’s mobile operator Turkcell has a 25-percent stake in Fintur. Fintur owns several GSM operators in Eastern Europe and the Baltics, along with digital television, Internet and other data transmission businesses.
Under the proposed deal, Sonera would buy 23.24 percent of the international GSM business from the Cukurova Group, increasing its stake to 58.55 percent. Turkcell would buy 16.45 percent of the GSM business from Cukurova Group, increasing its stake to 41.45 percent. Sonera and Turkcell would also sell to Cukurova their total holdings in the technology business.
Sonera would pay Cukurova Group US$120 million for the transactions. After closing, Fintur will become a subsidiary of Sonera.
“This transaction will give us majority position in Fintur’s mobile business,” said Harri Koponen, chief executive officer (CEO) of Sonera. “It will allow us to refocus on business we know very well.”
Fintur holds 51.3 percent of Azercell Telecom of Azerbaijan, 83.2 percent of Geocell in Georgia, 51 percent of GSM Kazakhstan and 77 percent of Moldcell in Moldavia. The operators jointly had 1.1 million customers at the end of 2001, Sonera said.
Each of the countries in which Fintur has GSM holdings has low mobile penetration rates and high growth opportunities, Sonera added.
