Turk Telekom mulls public listing for investments

Turk Telekom said ithat a public listing may be considered in the future for its group subsidiaries, in line with its strategic direction for its potential corporate venture capital investments. The company said there is no specific decision undertaken on any single company. 

The statement follows a Reuters report in which CEO Paul Doany commented that Turk Telekom aims to hold initial public offerings for subsidiaries such as Argela as well as other firms it will invest in. Doany told Reuters that the company is interested in investing in health, energy and mobile applications sectors. Doany was speaking during a press meeting held on 6 December to discuss the operator's results in the year to date.

According to Turk Telekom, Doany said the company's overall vision focuses on broadband penetration growth, and cost-effective mobile share growth, supported by mass market TV offerings and future wireless homes.

Doany also told Reuters the company does not plan to borrow money to implement its business plan and aims to keep capex spending to a minimum under a new five-year strategy as it focuses on paying out dividends. The plan comes as ongoing concerns about Turk Telekom’s top shareholder, the Saudi-backed Oger Telecom, have cast a shadow on Turkey’s largest fixed-line operator.

Oger missed the last three payments on a USD 4.75 billion loan. The Turkish government wants to see Turk Telekom owned by a financially stable company, sources have told Reuters. 

Doany told Reuters Turk Telekom aimed to keep its net debt at two times EBITDA as it seeks to continue to pay out dividends.

Turk Telekom said in the press release that Doany only disclosed annual guidance during the press conference.