CEE Legal Matters

Category: Turkiye

  • Former W&C Turkey MP Meltem Akol Reveals Post-W&C Plans

    Former W&C Turkey MP Meltem Akol Reveals Post-W&C Plans

    In an exclusive conversation with CEE Legal Matters, Meltem Akol — the Executive Partner of the Akol Law Firm, which until very recently was White & Case’s associated firm in Istanbul — has explained her reasons for leaving W&C and her excitement at her plans going forward.

    Akol has spent all of her professional career at White & Case, which she joined immediately after graduating from Istanbul University in 1991. In 1998, following the departure of Executive Partner Emre Derman, the then Derman Duren Akol Law Firm was renamed Duren Akol, with Aydin Duren as Executive Partner. When Duren then also left in January 2009 to become Head of Legal at Turkey’s Garanti Bank, Akol took over sole stewardship. She left White & Case in mid-September, 2015, and White & Case announced on September 15 that the Istanbul office would be led going forward by Zeynep Cakmak (the former Executive Partner of White & Case’s associated firm in Ankara) and Istanbul-based Banking/Finance Partner Guniz Gokce. 

    When asked why she felt the time was right to leave White & Case, Akol said, “for the last couple of years I’ve been wondering how I wanted to spend the second half of my career … [because] if I wanted to do something different, I should do it now, or I should accept being part of an international law firm environment for the rest of my career.” Ultimately, she said, she concluded that, “I still have the stamina, and the desire, and the excitement for this profession, so I thought now was a good time.”

    For the time being she’s continuing to practice under the Akol Law Firm name, but she plans to rebrand at the end of the year, when she will formally partner with 3 other high-profile Turkish lawyers — whose identities she declined to reveal for the time being — in a 4-person partnership. She has big plans for the new entity, which she expects to grow quickly to 15 lawyers in 2016, and then up to 30 lawyers in 2017.

    And despite the recent political uncertainty in Turkey, Akol is optimistic about her prospects. “I’ve been doing this for the past 24 years,” she says, “and it hasn’t been steady and stable for those 24 years. As long as it’s a realistic business model, and it provides a high quality of service, which is reasonably priced, I think there will always be a buyer for these services.”

    She insists she left White & Case on good terms, and she explains the change in characteristically modest terms. “You know me, I’m a low-profile person, and I’d rather keep it that way. I’d rather focus on the work.”

  • Meltem Akol Leaves White & Case in Istanbul

    Meltem Akol Leaves White & Case in Istanbul

    The Akol Attorney Partnership in Turkey is no more, at least in its relationship with White & Case in Turkey, as Managing Partner Meltem Akol has concluded her relationship with the White Shoe Firm.

    Akol’s place as head of White & Case’s Istanbul arm has been filled by Zeynep Cakmak — who moves to Istanbul from Ankara, where she headed White & Case’s office in the Turkish capital — and Istanbul-based Banking/Finance Partner Guniz Gokce. The office began operating as Cakmak Gokce Attorney Partnership on September 15, 2015. Despite Zeynep Cakmak’s formal assumption of duties in Istanbul, the Cakmak Attorney Partnership in Ankara won’t change its name, as Ms. Cakmak has been replaced as formal head of that office by her husband, Mesut Cakmak.

    When contacted by CEE Legal Matters, a White & Case spokesman in Turkey reported that “despite all the legalities and new entities and these things, essentially it’s one person leaving the firm.”  He insisted that, “in terms of quality of work and the quality of work and the service everyone’s going to get from White & Case, it really is business as usual.” 

    Additional details on this story will appear in the October 2015 issue of the CEE Legal Matters magazine.

  • Baker & McKenzie Advises Burgan Bank on First Syndicated Loan

    The Esin Attorney Partnership, a member firm of Baker & McKenzie International, has advised Burgan Bank A.S. on its inaugural syndicated loan obtained for general trade finance purposes.

    The Firm advised Burgan Bank on a USD 77 million and EUR 42 million syndicated multi-tranche dual-currency term loan agreement between Burgan Bank and a syndicate of 12 banks. The mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners were: Arab Banking Corporation (B.S.C.), Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft, Filiale Luxemburg, HSBC Bank Middle East Ltd, and Mashreqbank psc. The deal was signed and closed on June 25, 2015.

    Burgan Bank AS’s majority shareholder, the Burgan Bank Group, is a Kuwait-based financial services group and a leading financial services provider in the Middle East and North Africa with four other majority-held subsidiaries in Algeria (Gulf Bank Algeria), Iraq (Bank of Baghdad), Jordan (Jordan Kuwait Bank), and Tunisia (Tunis International Bank).

    Partner Muhsin Keskin from Esin Attorney Partnership and Partner Michael Foundethakis from Baker & McKenzie’s Paris office advised on the loan agreement. Associates Berk Cin (Istanbul) and Gonzague Basso (Paris) provided support.

    “We are proud to advise Burgan Bank on their first syndicated loan in Turkey, said Keskin. “This transaction marks our rapidly increasing activity in the Turkish bank syndications market. While Eurobonds are becoming increasingly popular for Turkish banks as a funding source, syndicated loans are still the easiest, quickest and most practical sources of funding. We are proud to be advising on these transactions which are creating new avenues for Turkish banks to fund the national economy.”

  • White & Case and Willkie Farr & Gallagher Advise on Second Hospital PPP in Turkey

    White & Case has advised the lenders and the hedging banks, including SMBC, BTMU, Siemens Bank, and Intesa Sanpaolo, on the EUR 150 million financing of a 475-bed hospital public-private partnership (PPP) in Yozgat, Turkey.  

    The sponsors (including Meridiam (36.5%), Ronesans (36.5%), Sila Group (13.5%), and Sam Yapi (13.5%)), and the project company were advised by Willkie Farr & Gallagher (which describes the hospital as having 476 beds). The financing also benefited from a guarantee issued by MIGA (Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency of the World Bank group).

    This partnership follows the integrated healthcare campus PPP in Adana, Turkey, which signed during December 2014 and was the first social infrastructure PPP project in Turkey to reach financial close. Both White & Case and Willkie Farr & Gallagher advised on that deal as well (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on January 7, 2015).

    The Yozgat project fully meets the EBRD’s performance criteria and social and environmental guidelines of the World Bank. It is a part of the medical infrastructure modernization campaign in Turkey, which plans to create at least 24,000 hospital beds in the years ahead via PPPs.

    The White & Case team advising on the transaction included Partners Victoria Westcott, Jacques Bouillon, and Cagdas Evrim Ergun, Counsel Francois-Guilhem Vaissier, and Associates Craig Steinberg, Elaine Porter, Olivier Le Bars, Charlene Ntsiba, Kenza Bounjou, Nigar Gokmen, and Naz Bandik. 

    The Willkie team was led by Partner Amir Jahanguiri and included Associates Emilie Patoux, Roy Charles Bates, and Cedric Gamambaye Dionmou.

  • Baker & McKenzie, White & Case, and Willkie Farr & Gallagher Advise on First Turkish PPP to Reach Financial Close

    Baker & McKenzie and the Esin Attorney Partnership, its Turkish arm, have advised a group of commercial lenders on the EUR 541 million Adana Integrated Healthcare Campus Project, one of Turkey’s first Public Private Partnership (PPP) hospital projects to reach financial close. Willkie Farr & Gallagher advised the sponsors and White & Case acted for the overall lender group.

    The project will see Meridiam, a leading global infrastructure firm, and Ronesans, a major Turkish construction group, design, build, finance, operate and transfer the hospital with a 36-month construction period followed by a 25-year operating period. According to a statement released by the Esin Attorney Partnership, “the integrated campus will offer high quality health services, with a total capacity of 1,550 beds which will help fulfill the demand for healthcare in the Adana area. Adana, in southern Turkey, is the country’s fifth largest city and a major agricultural, industry and commercial center.”

    Baker & McKenzie advised Siemens Financial Services, HSBC, Korea Development Bank, and BBVA on their participation in the EBRD and IFC B Loan programs. Global head of project finance Calvin Walker led the team, assisted by Associate Luka Lightfoot in London and Partner Muhsin Keskin and Associate Erdem Sismangil in Istanbul.

    “The Adana project is a milestone PPP and is a template for financing the modernization of the country’s healthcare sector,” said Walker. “The combination of development finance from EBRD and IFC with commercial bank lending over the tenor required for developments of this scale bodes well for the project finance market in Turkey.”

    Esin Attorney Partnership Partner Muhsin Keskin stated that, “these projects will contribute to more efficient provision of public services and more effective allocation of public resources and government expertise, thus paving the way to the realization of the Vision 2023.”

    Members of ADN PPP Saglik Yatirim A.S., the project company formed to implement the project, include Meridiam (40%), Ronesans (40%), Sila A.S. (6%), SAM (10%), and TTT (4%).

    The White & Case team which advised on the transaction included Paris-based Partners Jacques Bouillon and Victoria Westcott and Ankara-based Partner Cagdas Evrim Ergun with support from Associates Craig Steinberg, Elaine Porter, Kimberly Haughton, Olivier Le Bars, Charlene Ntsiba (all Paris), Nigar Gokmen and Naz Bandik (both Ankara).

    Image source: pppadanahastanesi.com
  • First Turkish Law Firm Merger Announced

    First Turkish Law Firm Merger Announced

    The Turkish legal market is, if not “over-lawyered,” at least populated by an unusually large and ever-growing number of smaller firms led by lawyers with significant international and cross-border experience. As a result, complaints about downward fee-pressure are more common than in many other markets, and the competition for clients is unusually fierce.   

       

    Erim Bener

    Speaking on the subject last winter, several well-known experts predicted a consolidation of the market. Kenan Yilmaz the Chief Legal Counsel at Koc Holding, suggested that the market is in a “transition period,” and said of the many smaller firms that, “eventually some of them will be eliminated, and some of them will unite.”  Ismail Esin, the Managing Partner of the Turkish firm associated with Baker & McKenzie, mirrored this analysis, predicting that “most probably some law firms will be forced to come together, to merge, to survive.”   

    And Cem Davutoglu, the owner of Davutoglu Attorneys at Law — one of the firms fighting to establish itself in the crowded market — said of the smaller firms that, “they’re inevitably going to merge at some point.”   

    Davutoglu’s prediction, it turns out, was perhaps not entirely theoretical, and his choice of pronoun perhaps disingenuous, as the former White & Case Partner announced this week that his eponymous boutique will be combining with the larger and more established Bener Law Firm, effective as of September 1. The merger may well constitute the first ever merger of two established firms in the Turkish legal market.  

    Davutoglu says he and Erim Bener first became acquainted while working on a bank acquisition transaction over a decade ago, and the possibility of joining forces was raised and tabled several times over the intervening decade. His  decision that the time for the merger had come, Davutoglu says, followed from his analysis of the market: “I think it was a decision based on the thought that in a market where competition is getting stronger every day, consolidation and forming larger and stronger firms offering a wider scope of services with more senior and specialized attorneys would create a difference.”

       

    Cem Davutoglu

    His entire team — with the exception of partner Eda Cemali, who will remain independent — will be subsumed into the Bener Law Firm, which will grow to over 50 fee earners while continuing to operate under its current name. Davutoglu says that he is “not really” concerned about no longer seeing his name on the charter, as “I believe in synergies and success in bigger structures with better capabilities.”  

    Both he and Bener have high expectations about the success of the merger, Davutoglu says, as they have received positive feedback from the market and clients, and “you can sense the vibrant energy of our colleagues in the firm.” As for the exact nature of the partnership, Davutoglu would say only that at Bener he will operate under “a hybrid structure of fixed income and income based on revenue generated.” 

    Finally, when asked about the significance of this first ever merger, Davutoglu refers to the changing nature of the market itself. “Things are moving fast in Turkey,” he says. “Magic Circle firms are coming in, old firms with a big presence are still losing blood, etc., and the clients are becoming more sophisticated in terms of hiring legal counsel and closely watching developments in the market.” As a result, he says, “I think consolidation is inevitable across the spectrum of small, mid-sized, and large law firms.” As inevitable as it may be, Davutoglu notes that combinations are never simple, as “matching with partners that give you comfort is not very easy and conflicts of interest, client reactions against potential partners, etc., just makes it more difficult.” 

  • Baker & McKenzie Advises Finansbank on Financing for Peska/OTK Group

    Esin Attorney Partnership, the Turkish member firm of Baker & McKenzie International, has advised Finansbank on two loan facilities for a tourist development project in Turkey. The loan facility agreements are designed to support an elite tourist project development on Turkey’s Aegean coast.

    Esin and Baker & McKenzie advised Finansbank in relation to a USD 11,500,000 term loan facility for OTK Insaat Danismanlik’s (OTK Construction) acquisition of Peska Turizm Yatirimlari and a USD 10,000,000 term loan facility for financing Peska Tourism’s project development on the southwest Aegean coast of Turkey. The deal was signed and closed on June 14, 2014.

    Finansbank, one of Turkey’s largest private banks, was established in 1987, and has 674 branches and more than 14,000 employees. OTK Construction and Peska Tourism are tourism companies operating tourist facilities in Turkey. 

    Esin Banking & Finance Partner Muhsin Keskin and Real Estate Partner Birturk Aydin advised Finansbank, along with Baker & McKenzie Global Head of M&A Simon Hughes and Banking and Finance Partner Mazen Boustany. They were supported by Istanbul-based Associates Erdem Sismangil, Berk Cin, and Sadi Oz, London-based Associate Matthew Vaghela, and Dubai-based Associate Muhammad Syamsulfaiz.

    “This transaction was complex for a number of reasons, especially because we were negotiating a project financing facility and security package of a borrower our client had not yet acquired while we were struggling with the financial assistance restrictions brought up two years ago. Also, the transaction required the combination of the capabilities of four different practice groups including Banking & Finance, M&A, Real Estate and Corporate across three offices” said Muhsin Keskin.

  • Mannheimer Swartling and Herguner Advise on AAK Acquisition of Frita

    Mannheimer Swartling has advised AAK on its agreement to acquire Frita, a frying oil producer in Turkey, from Unilever. Herguner Bilgen Ozeke acted as local counsel on the deal.

    AAK’s acquisition is an add-on to AAK’s Unipro acquisition in the third quarter of 2013. The value of the transaction was not disclosed.  

    AAK’s President Asia, CIS and Middle East Torben Friis Lange is enthusiastic about the acquisition. “Frita has a very good reputation in Turkey and AAK Turkey already covers 80 percent of the Frita customers with our current bakery distribution,” he said. “By acquiring Frita, we will extend AAK Turkey’s product offerings.” The impact on AAK’s operating profit is expected to be limited.   

    Frita had revenues of approximately SEK 75 million in 2013.  

    AAK is one of the world’s leading producers of high value-added specialty vegetable fats and has production facilities in Denmark, Mexico, the Netherlands, Sweden, Great Britain, Uruguay, and the US. The company is listed on NASDAQ OMX Stockholm.  

    Mannheimer Swartling’s team was led by Niklas Bogefors, who was primarily assisted by Isabel Lindeberg.  

     

  • Uler & Dimici Adds New Partner in Istanbul

    Turkish Corporate lawyer Oya Deniz Kavame has joined Uler & Dimici Attorneys at Law as Partner, leaving her position as Senior Associate at the Aksan Law Firm.  

    At Uler & Dimici she will lead the Corporate and M&A practice areas. She spent the previous seven years at Aksan, where she was Team Leader in the International and Corporate Law Department. 

    Kavame obtained her law degree from Istanbul Bilgi University in 2006, and a year later obtained a Certificate in Law from the South Texas College of Law in the United States. 

    Named Partner Kerem Uler is excited at his office’s expanded service for clients. “Being a niche firm that has established itself without the benefit of a significant M&A practice,” he explained, “we are very excited about the opportunities Kavame’s experience and expertise will create for us.” And Kavame speaks in similar terms: “I have joined forces with Kerem and Burak, who are respectful people and has different expertise on various field of law. In this way we, as Uler & Dimici Attorneys at Law, have gained more power and became more dynamic.

    With the addition of Kavame, the office now has three Partners and five Associates.

     

  • Baker & McKenzie Advises on Sale of Leading e-Pin Distributor

    Turkey’s Esin Attorney Partnership has advised the two founders and shareholders of Game Sultan, the largest e-pin distributor in Turkey, on the sale of Game Sultan shares to MOL AccessPortal. MOL Access Portal is a subsidiary of Malaysia-based e-payments service provider MOL Global.

    According to the Esin Attorney Partnership – the Turkish member firm of Baker & McKenzie International — the firm “advised Kazim Akalin and Aykut Sanver, local shareholders of Sihirli Kule (Game Sultan), on the sale of: (i) a 30 percent stake in the operator of Game Sultan, MOL Turkey Bilgi Sistemleri Yayincilik Sanayi ve Ticaret Anonim Sirketi; and (ii) a 30 percent stake in Sihirli Kule Bilgi Sistemleri Ltd., to MOL AccessPortal Sdn. Bhd.” The deal was signed on May 6, 2014, and closed on July 15, 2014. The Firm also advised Akalin and Sanver on the sale of: (i) a 70 percent stake in MOL Turkey Bilgi Sistemleri Yayincilik Sanayi ve Ticaret Anonim Sirketi; (ii) a 70 percent stake in Sihirli Kule Bilgi Sistemleri Ltd.; and (iii) a 70 percent stake in the leading Turkish leading mobile payment company PaytoGo to MOL in March 2013.

    Game Sultan is the largest e-pin distributor in Turkey, offering in-game currencies for over 100 online games from more than 25 global publishers. The company operates an e-wallet system using a branded virtual currency called G-Cash, which can be purchased online and in kiosks, retail outlets and cybercafes across Turkey. 

    Founded in 2000, Malaysia-based MOL AccessPortal is a leading online payment solutions provider wholly owned by MOL Global. Including Turkey, MOL is active in 11 countries. Ganesh Kumar Bangah is the founder and group CEO of the company.

    The Esin Attorney Partnership team advising on the transaction was led by M&A Partner Muhsin Keskin, with support from Associates Erdem Sismangil, Berk Cin, and Mustafa Ozkan Ozdogan. Akalin and Sanver received financial advice from 3Seas Capital Partners.

    The Esin Attorney Partnership reports that this is the seventh transaction it has advised on in the Turkish online gaming market and the fifth transaction it has advised the Game Sultan shareholders on in the last year. In 2013, the Firm advised Burak Balik on the sale of his 50 percent stake in: (i) SHR Interaktif Servisler Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S., the operator of Joygame, the no. 1 Turkish multiplayer online gaming and entertainment company; and (ii) Joygame Interactive Services Ltd., to CJ Games. Relatedly, in February 2014, the Firm advised AIM-listed Monitise plc on the cross-border acquisition of 100 percent of the issued share capital of Pozitron Yazilim A.S., an online payment, banking, and security systems company and in 2012, the Firm advised SK Planet on its joint venture with Dogus Holding to set up n11.com, an online marketplace platform. 

    “Advising clients on transactions in the dot-com business, online gaming, e-payment and e-commerce sectors is exciting because it places us at the intersection of Turkey’s emerging tech scene and entrepreneurial spirit,” commented Keskin.