Motorola Gets $410 Million Related To Sale Of Turkey's Telsim

LOS ANGELES (Dow Jones) -- Motorola on Friday said it received a $410 million cash payment following Vodafone Group's acquisition of Telsim Mobil Telekomunikasyon as part of a settlement of Motorola's long-running legal spat with the Turkish mobile phone operator.

Motorola received the payment under a previously agreed settlement of its financial and legal claims against Telsim. Under that agreement, set last October, Schaumberg, Ill.-based Motorola settled its claims against Telsim and certain other parties for a cash payment of $500 million and the right to 20% of the proceeds of the sale of the Turkish firm's assets over $2.5 billion.

Vodafone prevailed in a December auction to acquire Turkey's second-largest mobile operator with a bid worth $4.55 billion.

Motorola dismissed both its litigation against Telsim and its request for arbitration against the Turkish government at the International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes in Washington.

Also, Motorola agreed not to pursue collection efforts against some corporate defendants, subject to certain conditions.

The company, however, said it may carry on with efforts outside of Turkey and some other agreed-upon countries to enforce judgments that it had secured against the Uzan family for perpetrating an alleged "massive fraud" against Motorola through the family's earlier control of Telsim.

Separately, Finnish mobile-phone maker Nokia said it received a $341 million payment from the Turkish government, settling a dispute over the sale of Telsim's assets to Vodafone.

Nokia said its claims arose from Telsim's default on its repayment obligations under a loan facility related to network equipment delivered in 2000.

"The closing of the settlement agreement opens the way for Nokia's continued support for Telsim's operations, which will benefit not only Telsim's subscribers but also the Turkish telecommunications market at large," the Espoo, Finland-based company said.

Motorola's stock tacked on 13 cents to $21.18 in Friday trading. Shares have ranged from $17.17 to $24.99 over the past 52 weeks.

U.S.-listed shares of Nokia gained 27 cents, or 1.3%, to $21.73. That issue over the last 52 weeks has ranged from $15.17 to $23.46.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires "

Posted to the site on 26th May 2006