Oger Telekom makes early payment with $4.3 bln
Posted by meb at March 30th, 2007
Oger Telekom, which bought a 55 percent stake in Türk Telekom for $6.55 billion in November 2005, cleared its debt four years in advance. Oger Telekom paid $1.31 billion in 2005 and $1.431 billion (with interest) in 2006. The remaining $4.3 billion was paid on Wednesday making the total $7.55 billion.
Oger Telekom’s CEO Mohammed Hariri handed over a symbolic check to Finance Minister Kemal Unakıtan and Transport Minister Binali Yıldırım. The money is expected to arrive at the Treasury today. Hariri said they will continue to invest in Türk Telekom to make it the most successful company not only in Turkey but in the world.
Unakıtan said Turkey’s recent privatizations were highly successful and contributed to the stabilization of the economy. Noting that privatizations could be considered as structural reforms, he said Türk Telekom’s privatization was a turning point. He reminded media that there were plenty of negative opinions at the time of Türk Telekom’s privatization. He added that Türk Telekom’s sale amounted to $8 billion with the latest payments, including interest and the money withdrawn from the company’s safe.
Yıldırım said this payment will also contribute to Turkey’s transformation into an information society.
Türk Telekom CEO Paul Doany answered the question on why they made an early payment as: “We believe in Turkey’s economic power. We were able to receive financing from local branches of international banks. This is truly a historic turning point in Turkey’s finances.”
Upon questions whether this payment would ease the burden on the central budget, Unakıtan replied that the budget was doing fine, but he would not say �no� to incoming cash. Contrary to Unakıtan, experts believe this early payment will decrease the budget deficit and make a positive contribution to the budget that had a bad performance for the past two months. Telekom’s sale was making the end of year targets more reachable, experts added.
source: Turkish Daily News
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