London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

Whitehall extends national security probe into Truphone deal

Whitehall extends national security probe into Truphone deal

Officials will take up to 45 additional working days to scrutinise the purchase of Truphone's assets by Hakan Koc, a German entrepreneur, Sky News learns.
The government has extended a national security probe into the fire-sale of a leading British mobile phone technology provider whose owners include Roman Abramovich.

Sky News has learnt that officials at a division of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) are to take up to 45 additional working days to scrutinise the purchase of Truphone assets by Hakan Koc, a billionaire German technology entrepreneur.

The extension, which prohibits the sale from being completed, has been ordered by the Investment Security Unit (ISU) under the National Security and Investment Act (NS&I).

Sources said the decision to extend the inquiry did not itself imply that the government would seek to block the deal, with one executive close to the process expressing confidence on Friday that it could yet close before the end of this month.

Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary who is widely expected to be named chancellor in a Liz Truss-led administration, is understood to be being kept informed of developments.

Truphone is a mobile virtual network operator in nine countries, focusing on international corporate clients such as investment banks.

The company holds an embryonic remote SIM provisioning contract with BT Group, which they said triggered potential concerns in relation to the takeover.

Sources told Sky News in July that Mr Koc had indicated that he and his fellow acquirer, Pyrros Koussios, were prepared to exclude that contract from their purchase of Truphone's assets.

Mr Koc is also said to be preparing to introduce a monitoring system for app-based messaging services into Truphone's products, enabling investment banks' compliance departments to more effectively supervise employees' use of such platforms.

This follows a slew of fines issued by US regulators against major banks for failing to prevent the use of services such as WhatsApp for sensitive work-related activities.

A person close to Mr Koc said his objective was to transform Truphone into a UK-based global technology champion.

A number of deals have already been scrutinised under the new NS&I legislation, with several having been extended before being cleared.

The delay to the sale of Truphone's assets comes during a fraught period for the company.

It is said to have been within weeks of running out of cash, with emergency funding understood to have been discussed in recent weeks.

More than 400 people work for the company in the UK and overseas.

A sale process was run for Truphone before the summer, with Mr Koc being selected as the preferred bidder on an exclusive basis.

An insider told Sky News in July that the issuing of the interim order had produced the "perverse" outcome of Truphone effectively remaining for a longer period in the ownership of an already-sanctioned Russian oligarch.

Mr Abramovich and two Russian business partners are said to have invested more than £300m in Truphone during their time as shareholders.

The oligarch has already presided over the most prominent sale of a British asset since Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, in the form of the £2.5bn sale of Chelsea Football Club.

Mr Koc is a German-born businessman who co-founded the used-car platform Auto1.

That listed in Frankfurt last year, and although its valuation has since fallen in line with listed technology stocks around the world, it crystallised Mr Koc's status among the super-rich.

The government has come under pressure to demonstrate that the new national security laws are being applied robustly, leading Mr Kwarteng's department to declare in June that they were working well - despite concerns expressed by a number of leading City law firms.

"The government is laser-focused on growing our economy and levelling up every part of the UK, but this will not come at the cost of our national security," he said.

"This report shows our new investment screening process is working.

"It's simple and quick, giving firms speed and certainty to do business in a way that protects the security of the UK."

In total, more than 200 transactions were notified to the government during the first three-month period after the act became law.

Mr Koc declined to comment on Friday, while a government spokesman previously said in relation to the investigation: "While commercial transactions remain primarily a matter for the parties involved, the government routinely monitors acquisitions across the economy in case of national security concerns. 

"The business secretary has powers under the National Security & Investment Act to intervene in acquisitions where necessary."
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Trump’s Quip on Biden and Google Lawsuit Revives Debate Over Antitrust Legacy
Macron and his wife to provide 'scientific photographic evidence' that she is a real woman
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
×