Alfa case against Cukurova rejected by Court (UK)

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: A court in the British Virgin Islands has rejected Turkish conglomerate Cukurova Holding’s (a shareholder in the country’s largest mobile operator Turkcell) fellow investor Alfa Group’s demands to seize Cukorova’s shares on the grounds that it defaulted on a loan agreement.

13.2% of Turkcell was bought by Russian-based Alfa from Cukurova in November 2005 and lent the Turkish group USD1.71 billion secured against a further 13.8% stake in the operator. It was claimed by Alfa that Cukurova repaid USD357 million in November 2006 but failed to pay subsequent installments on time. Later it made a demand that Cukurova repay its USD1.35 billion debt in the form of Turkcell shares.

According to the court rulings, the payments were not overdue, whilst Alfa had itself violated the terms of the loan agreement and the court also added the Turkcell shares held as collateral would be returned to Cukurova once it repaid its debt to Alfa.