Mergers and acquisitions don’t always go as planned. On that note, we bring you the story involving Moscow’s court of appeal which decided that the merger between Russian mobile phone operator MegaFon and Turkish Turkcell is invalid.
Almost a year ago, we reported that Russian group Altimo and Nordic operator TeliaSonera agreed to merge their interests in Turkcell and MegaFon in an effort to resolve an ownership dispute over Turkcell.
Alisher Usmanov, who has a 39% stake in MegaFon, objected to the plan, filling a suit on the grounds that the deal contradicted Russian law which bans foreign entities gaining control of strategic enterprises.
Both TeliaSonera and Altimo said they would appeal the court’s decision one more time. Cecilia Edstrom, head of TeliaSonera group communications, said: “We are disappointed by the decision, we believe the decision is wrong. We expect to appeal.”
Finally, those unfamiliar should know Turkcell is Turkey’s biggest, while MegaFon is Russia’s third-largest mobile phone operator.
[Via: Reuters]