ZTE Completes Investment in Turkey's Netas

ZTE, a major international provider of telecommunications, enterprise and consumer technology solutions, has completed its acquisition of a 48.04% shareholding in Netaş Telekomünikasyon A.Ş.

The investment, made through ZTE’s subsidiary ZTE Cooperatief U.A., will strengthen Netas’ product and service capabilities and support growth in Turkey and in international markets. The shareholding in Netas was acquired by ZTE from OEP Turkey Tech B.V., a portfolio company managed by One Equity Partners.

C. Mujdat Altay, Chief Executive Officer of Netas, commented: “This transaction is one of the biggest technology development investments in Turkey. The investment by ZTE, a global leader in ICT, is a vote of confidence in Turkey’s technology capabilities and the strong performance of Netas, with our nine-fold growth since 2009. We are delighted to be at the center of this national success story. With 50 years of experience in exporting technology to other markets, we are excited to be able to further grow Netaş with the power of our new shareholder ZTE.”

Netaş is the leading systems integrator in Turkey and has a track record of operating successfully in international markets. Neta expects the company’s strong growth will be accelerated together with ZTE as the new shareholder. Netaş' highly talented human resources, solid corporate culture, agile structure and ability to adapt to changes, will provide significant contribution to global projects in partnership with ZTE.

Having the most advanced R&D capabilities in Turkey's ICT field, Netaş has been at the center of many industry-leading innovations. With the cooperation of ZTE, Netas’ global software solutions business will be strengthened further. Netas’ software solutions are deployed by more than 200 global operators, and Netaş was nominated as the "Software Exporter Champion" of Turkey 7 times in the last 10 years.

Additionally, the ULAK project and other solutions developed by Netas, including cyber security solutions, will become available in a greater number of international markets, leveraging the global footprints of ZTE.

“The investment by ZTE is a major boost to Netas in our growth as a global technology brand.” said Dr. Zhao Xianming, CEO of ZTE. “The investment will give ZTE a regional hub to support operations in Turkey and neigboring countries.”

“ZTE is delighted to complete the investment in Netas. Our first priority is to support Netaş’s growth, and we have a long-term strategy in Netaş and Turkish ICT market. Netaş’ strong project delivery capabilities will enhance ZTE’s service capabilities to customers in Turkey as well as several key overseas markets. Netaş will increase its income and resource utilization, while helping ZTE to elevate service levels, especially response time, in each respective region with its repair and return center, customer support center and training center functionalities.”

Dr. Zhao also outlined enhanced R&D collaborations with Netas. “We welcome increased collaboration on R&D between Netaş and ZTE. ZTE’s vision, knowhow and patent portfolio, along with Netaş’ expertise in VoIP, IT, GSM-R, cyber security and other technologies, will bring more exciting solutions and breakthroughs to the ICT industry. ZTE will assist Netaş to strengthen its R&D capabilities and support Netaş' current 4.5G solutions to make ULAK more competitive globally. Additionally, Netaş will not only have access to ZTE’s solutions developed for telecom service providers, public sector institutions and consumers, it will also carry its innovative solutions such as IoT platform to ZTE’s global customer base. Netaş and its customers will also benefit from ZTE's existing project financing agreements.”

Dr. Zhao reassured other Netas stakeholders about the investment by ZTE. “Following the transaction, Netaş will remain committed to its corporate values, to delivering the best value and service levels to clients, to working closely with existing suppliers and to nurturing developed-in-Turkey innovations.”

David Walsh, current Chairman of Netas, welcomed the investment by ZTE. ”Netaş has been a tremendous success story and flagship enterprise in Turkey, growing about 400% since OEP invested 6 years ago. The exceptionally talented team at Netaş has dramatically expanded their ICT capabilities, and has expanded internationally beyond Turkey. With ZTE's investment, global reach and product depth, Netaş is extremely well positioned for future success.”

UniCredit, Yapı Kredi Bankası A.Ş. and BDA Partners acted as exclusive M&A advisors to OEP Turkey Tech B.V. Paksoy acted as legal advisor to OEP in this transaction.