Kazakhtelecom to Acquire 75 Percent of Kcell for $446 Million

December 12, 2018

Cleary Gottlieb is representing Kazakhtelecom in connection with its $446 million acquisition of a 75 percent stake in Kcell, a company owned by Telia Company AB and Turkcell İletişim Hizmetleri A.Ş., from Telia Company AB and Fintur Holdings B.V.

The transaction implies an enterprise value of $771 million for 100 percent of Kcell on a cash-free, debt-free basis.

The transaction was announced on December 12, 2018 and closed at the end of 2018. Approval for the transaction from the antimonopoly authorities in Kazakhstan was received earlier in the year.

Kcell was established in 1998 and is the largest provider of mobile telecommunications services in Kazakhstan, with a subscriber base of more than 10 million people and 4G coverage to more than 49 percent of the total population.

Kazakhtelecom is a telecommunications operator controlled by the government of the Republic of Kazakhstan through its sovereign wealth fund, Samruk-Kazyna. Cleary previously represented Kazakhtelecom in 2012 on the disposal of its interest in Kcell to Telia for $1.52 billion.

For more information, please see Kazakhtelecom’s official press release here.