Qatar's Ooredoo reported to bid for Turk Telekom

Qatariphone carrier Ooredoo QSC decided to bid for the insolvent owner of Turkey's biggest telecommunications company to rival an offer from Saudi Telecom Co., three people with knowledge on the matter told Bloomberg.

Ooredoo will seek to acquire Ojer Telekomünikasyon A.Ş., a subsidiary of Oger Telekomünikasyon A.Ş., a special purpose vehicle that owns 55 percent of Türk Telekomünikasyon A.Ş., said the people, who asked not to be identified because of restrictions on speaking on the subject. The Saudi proposal remains on the table, they said.

A purchase by Ooredoo would extend the Doha-based company's record of expanding to serve about 150 million customers from Algeria to Myanmar, largely through acquisitions.

In Turkey's largest syndicated loan default, Otaş missed three payments since September 2016 on $4.75 billion it borrowed from 29 local and international banks in 2013. Creditors include Akbank, Türkiye Garanti Bankası, and Türkiye İş Bankası A.Ş. Akbank is owed about $1.5 billion under the facility, Garanti Bankasi around $1 billion and İş Bankası about $500 million, according to public filings.

Last week, Daily Sabah reported that a Qatari telecommunication giant plants to invest in the country's sector with a huge acquisition.