Turkey: Turkcell to acquire SCM's share in Astelit

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey’s leading mobile phone operator Turkcell has signed an agreement to acquire a 44.96 percent stake in Euroasia Telecommunications Holding, which owns 100 percent of Astelit LLC, the Ukrainian mobile operator of “life:)”.

Turkcell already has a 55 percent stake in the “life:)” brand in Ukraine.

Euroasia owns 100 percent of LLC Astelit, which operates under the brand "life:)" in the Ukrainian mobile market. The deal is valued at $100 million.

"Based on the decision of our board of directors, the share purchase agreement has been signed to acquire SCM Holdings Limited's 44.96 percent stake in our subsidiary Euroasia Telecommunications Holding BV (‘Euroasia’) based in Netherlands, in which we currently hold 55.04 percent stake," Turkcell said on Friday.

"At Turkcell, we had declared that we would be evaluating both organic and inorganic growth opportunities to strengthen our position in the countries where we operate," Kaan Terzioglu, chief rxecutive of Turkcell, said.

"In this context, we have taken the first major step in Ukraine. We believe that Ukraine will be a success story for Turkcell's international operations and a pilot country as we transfer our experience to the region," he added.

"With this acquisition, we pave the way towards boosting this momentum and increasing life:)'s contribution to Turkcell Group as a stronger player in the market," he said.