Turkcell has shelved plans for an IPO of its infrastructure arm, citing a wide range of potential disruptions to financial markets. Turkcell announced earlier this year the plan to list Global Tower, and the company was expected to start trading 27 October. However, Turkcell said factors such as the upcoming US presidential election, expected increase in interest rates by the US Federal Reserve and the recent major cyberattack on global websites led to the decision to halt the listing in Instanbul.
Global Tower told Bloomberg that the demand from international institutional investors for its shares was "satisfactory", but relatively lower interest from the US led to the decision to hold back the offering. CEO Nihat Narin said interest was higher from the UK, Europe and Turkey. "Our understanding is that the cyber-attacks have negatively impacted our process, limiting access to the internet," he said.
Turkcell said it will reconsider the IPO when markets "become more reliable and stable". The Global Tower IPO would have been the first new listing in Instanbul since the failed military coup in Turkey this summer.
