14 DAY TRIAL // Vertu started as Nokia's luxury business in the late 90s, but soon found another owner after the Finnish company hit troubles and had to sell its entire mobile phone division to Microsoft. Private equity firm EQT acquired Vertu from Nokia for £175 million, but then sold it to Hong Kong-based Godin Holdings.
Eighteen months later Vertu changed owner, as The Daily Telegraph reports that Baferton, a Cyprus-registered company funded by Turkish controversial businessman Hakan Uzan, is now the new owner of the luxury company. Baferton has paid £50 million for the acquisition of the UK-based Vertu.
Hakan is one of the important members of the Uzan family, who was found in contempt of court after he missed a hearing in relation to allegations of massive fraud by Nokia.
Apparently, the Uzan family borrowed money from Nokia and Motorola in the 1990s to create a carrier in Turkey called Telsim, which later formed the basis for Vodafone.
Unfortunately, Telsim experienced deep financial troubles and defaulted the loans, but the Uzan family was accused of siphoning money to pay for private jets and their international properties.
Both Motorola and Nokia were awarded multibillion-dollar damages, but the Uzan family is still trying to dispute these allegations. But the problems for the Uzan family don't stop here.
Hakan's brother Cem is a well-known political opponent of Turkey's current President Erdogan, so their assets were seized by the Turkish authorities many years ago. That forced the family to live in exile and start all over again.
Due to the financial problems they faced after Nokia and Motorola won the dispute in court, the Uzan family was hit with another court attack from Donald Trump, United State's President, because they backed out of buying apartments in Trump Tower.
In the meantime, the Uzan family asked and received political asylum in France, and by the looks of it, they have enough money to buy Vertu, a luxury company selling phones worth up to £40.000.