ANKARA
Turkish mobile phone operator Turkcell said in a statement late on Thursday that it will establish a consumer finance arm.
The new company will have a capital ceiling of up to 500 million lira ($172 million).
The mobile operator also said it had applied to Turkey's Capital Markets Board for the approval of an issuance certificate to issue bonds, commercial paper or any other debentures with an amount of up to $1 billion to investors outside Turkey through private placement and/or sales to qualified investors, without public offering. Qualified investors are considered to have sufficient investment experience to make judgements on complex financial offers without guidance.
Turkcell earned 142 million Turkish liras ($53 million) in net profit in the first quarter of this year. Total net income for 2014 was 1.865 billion Turkish liras ($754 million), down 20 percent from 2013.
The company’s shares have been traded on Istanbul Stock Exchange (Borsa Istanbul) and New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) since July 2000 and it is the first and only Turkish company ever to be listed on NYSE.
With nearly 35 million subscribers, Turkcell also has investments in communication sectors in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Moldova and Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
