The family of Carlos Slim Helú — one of the world's wealthiest individuals with an estimated net worth of approximately $125 billion — has acquired a 5.1% minority stake in Turkcell İletişim Hizmetleri A.Ş., Turkey's largest GSM operator. The acquisition was made through NYSE-listed American Depositary Shares (ADS) and required a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The transaction represents 111.2 million ordinary shares of Turkcell.

The investment adds a notable dimension to the Turkey–U.S. capital markets relationship: a Latin American conglomerate with deep historical ties to Ottoman-era Lebanon acquiring a significant minority position in a Turkish telecommunications company listed on both Nasdaq and the Borsa Istanbul.

Turkcell's shares are listed on Nasdaq in the form of American Depositary Receipts (ADRs), with each ADR representing one ordinary share. Approximately 54% of Turkcell's share capital is publicly held, and the Slim family's 5.1% stake was acquired from within this public float.

The acquisition was executed through four Slim-affiliated entities:

• Grupo Financiero Inbursa — Mexico's largest financial conglomerate controlled by the Slim family, with banking, insurance, and investment management operations
• Control Empresarial de Capitales — the Slim family's principal holding vehicle for strategic equity investments
• Fundación Telmex — the philanthropic foundation associated with Telmex, Slim's fixed-line telecommunications company
• Fundación Carlos Slim — the personal foundation of Carlos Slim Helú

The use of multiple entities across a single acquisition is a common structure for large family-controlled conglomerates seeking to distribute economic exposure while maintaining consolidated beneficial ownership for regulatory reporting purposes.

Because Turkcell's ADS are listed on a U.S. exchange, any person or group acquiring beneficial ownership of 5% or more of the registered class of securities is required to file a Schedule 13D or Schedule 13G with the SEC under Section 13(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

Schedule 13G is available to passive investors — those who acquire securities in the ordinary course of business without the purpose or effect of changing or influencing control of the issuer. Schedule 13D is required when the acquirer has or intends to have an active role in the issuer's governance or strategy.

The Slim family's filing with the SEC confirms that the combined 5.1% position crosses the statutory threshold. Given that the stake is characterized as a minority financial investment without board representation or governance rights, a Schedule 13G filing would be the expected form — though the precise filing type and its contents are determinative.

Practical note for Turkish companies listed in the U.S.: Any shareholder — domestic or foreign — who crosses the 5% beneficial ownership threshold in a U.S.-listed Turkish company must comply with SEC reporting obligations regardless of where the underlying shares are held. Failure to file on time exposes the acquirer to SEC enforcement action and potential disgorgement of short-swing profits under Section 16. For a broader overview of the U.S. regulatory environment affecting Turkish cross-border transactions, see our U.S. Legal & Regulatory Update: July 25, 2026.

Following the Slim family's acquisition, Turkcell's principal shareholders are:

The Slim family's position does not confer control or board representation. It is a passive financial investment in a company that reported net sales of TL 241.47 billion, EBITDA of TL 104.86 billion, and net income of TL 17.6 billion for 2025.

Carlos Slim's principal telecommunications vehicle is America Movil, one of the world's largest mobile network operators. Key metrics:

• Subscribers: Approximately 500 million — making it the fifth-largest mobile network operator globally by subscriber count
• Revenue: Approximately $55 billion annually
• Employees: Approximately 200,000
• Geographic footprint: Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Slovenia

Slim also controls Telmex, Mexico's dominant fixed-line telecommunications operator, with more than 50,000 employees and approximately $6 billion in annual revenue. His diversified holding company Grupo Carso — whose name combines the first three letters of Carlos and the first two letters of Soumaya, his late wife who passed away in 1999 — operates across retail, energy, construction, and industrial sectors with more than 85,000 employees.

The Slim family's investment in Turkcell carries a historical dimension that is unusual in cross-border M&A. Carlos Slim's father, Khalil Salim Haddad Ağlamaz, was an Ottoman citizen born in Lebanon who emigrated to Mexico in 1902. His mother, Linda Helu Atta, was also of Lebanese origin. Both parents were part of the wave of Levantine emigration from Ottoman territories to Latin America in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Carlos Slim was born in Mexico City in 1940 and built his fortune through disciplined acquisition of undervalued assets — most notably the privatization of Telmex in 1990 — and long-term capital allocation across telecommunications, financial services, and real estate. He was the world's wealthiest individual from 2010 to 2013.

The acquisition of a 5.1% stake in Turkcell thus represents, in a narrow but real sense, a return of Ottoman-origin capital to a Turkish enterprise — mediated through U.S. capital markets infrastructure.

For Turkish counsel and investors:

1. SEC compliance: The Slim entities' filing with the SEC is a public record. Turkish institutional investors and companies with U.S.-listed securities should monitor 13D/13G filings as an early-warning system for significant ownership changes.

2. BDDK and CMB notification: Depending on the structure of the ADR program and the underlying share register, Turkish financial regulators may have independent notification requirements for significant shareholding changes in regulated entities.

3. Passive vs. active investment: The minority, non-controlling nature of the Slim stake means that Turkish merger control (Rekabet Kurumu) notification is unlikely to be triggered. However, if the stake were to increase toward a control threshold, a full competition law analysis would be required. For recent examples of how Turkish-connected M&A transactions are structured and reviewed, see our Turkey–U.S. M&A Daily Digest: July 25, 2026.

4. ADR mechanics for Turkish issuers: Turkish companies considering a U.S. listing or an existing ADR program should note that the ADR structure creates a dual-layer ownership record — the depositary bank holds the underlying shares, while ADS holders are the beneficial owners for SEC purposes. This creates complexity in shareholder identification, proxy voting, and beneficial ownership reporting.

ULF New York advises on cross-border M&A, U.S. capital markets access for Turkish companies, SEC compliance, and Turkey–U.S. investment structures. This article is prepared for informational purposes and does not constitute legal advice. For matter-specific analysis, contact ULF New York.