Egemenoğlu Law Firm

Egemenoğlu Law Firm is one of the oldest and largest law firms in Turkey, advising leading local and international clients for over 50 years (since 1968). In two offices, one in Istanbul and the other in Bursa, Egemenoğlu Law Firm employs over 50 attorneys (seven partners and nearly 45 associates).

Managing Partner: Egemen Egemenoğlu

Senior Partner: Yunus Egemenoğlu

Partners: Dilek Gürsan Küçükaksu, Günsel Dede, Turan Doğan, Efra Aydın Can, Didem Keleş Pınar

Number of partners: 7

Number of lawyers: 45

Languages: Turkish, English

Practice Areas

Our multi-discipline firm’s busiest practice areas, presently, are (i) Dispute Resolution; (ii) Corporate / M&A ; (iii) Employment; (iv) Banking and Finance; (v) Restructring and insolvency.

• Dispute Resolution

Local litigation: We have one of Turkey’s busiest dispute resolution practices, which is co-headed by Ms. Dilek Gürsan Küçükaksu and Ms. Didem Keleş Pınar. At any time, approximately 20 of our attorneys are handling local court matters running the gamut from multimillion-dollar commercial disputes to court proceedings in which we represent victims of cybercrimes. In this regard, we practice before Turkish civil, commercial, administrative, tax, and criminal courts, as well as its appellate courts. The new work highlights in which the Litigation Department is involved are as follows:

• Representing the shareholders of Turkey's most recognized pastry and confectionery producer in a commercial dispute, which was successfully settled at the end of 2023.
• Representing a foreign-owned manufacturer in litigation and settlement discussions with an influential Turkish corporation over several disputes exceeding USD 33 million.
• Representing a Turkish manufacturer concerning an IP dispute of immeasurable value against one of the worldwide known automotive giants.

Contact:Ms. Dilek Gürsan Küçükaksu and Ms. Didem Keleş Pınar.

International arbitration: At Egemenoğlu Law Firm, like no other Turkish law firm, we can bring together experienced arbitration attorneys – with backgrounds in both common and civil law with, when necessary, the multidisciplinary expertise of our other fine attorneys.Our arbitration team is led by Mr. Egemen Egemenoğlu.

• Investment Arbitration: We have been counsel in three ICSID Investment Arbitrations, all involving multimillion-dollar claims against Turkmenistan. One of these matters was recently settled for several million dollars, the first settlement ever of a pre-award Investment Arbitration with Turkmenistan. We are also on the cusp of being engaged in several more investment arbitrations after securing third-party funding.
• Commercial Arbitration: We have acted as counsel in various commercial arbitrations before the ICC, AAA, and SIAC. We have recently procured a favorable SIAC award amounting to US$2.5 million. We are also preparing for two other commercial arbitrations to be filed at the ICC, each involving multimillion-dollar claims arising out of construction projects.

Contact:Mr. Egemen Egemenoğlu.

• Corporate / M&A

In early 2022, we strategically restructured our "Corporate" department to better align with our increasing engagement in M&A and various projects. This restructuring resulted in the creation of two separate departments: Our newly established M&A and Projects Department concentrates on project management, specializing in M&A transactions, IPOs, project finance, and startup financing, among other areas. On the other hand, our formerly established Corporate Department is committed to delivering comprehensive legal consultancy services to more than 150 companies and their subsidiaries, operating from offices located in both Bursa and Istanbul.

M&A and Projects: Our M&A and Projects attorneys offer assistance to our clients under the guidance of Ms. Efra Aydın Can, on a vast range of corporate transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, IPOs, and other strategic alliances. Although the industries in which our clients operate are diverse, they may be primarily classified as textile, chemical, construction, and manufacturing. Various examples from the projects we have been involved in as Egemenoğlu last year are as follows:

• Providing legal support, including the approval of the Competition Board, in the acquisition of the entire capital of Kale Kimya Kimyevi San. ve Tic. A.Ş., one of the leading companies in the chemistry sector, by Univar Solutions LLC, one of the world’s leading companies in the distribution of chemistry;
• Providing legal support for the acquisition of the entire capital of Tunay Gıda Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş. which is Turkey's leading beverage company, to GAT Food, IBBL, one of the leading beverage companies in the global sector;
• Providing legal support for the acquisition of the entire capital of Teko Alüminyum Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş. which is Turkey's leading packaging company, to Aluflexpack AG, one of the leading companies in the packaging sector;
• Providing legal support in the sale of all shares of Esitaş, one of the low-medium voltage transformer manufacturers, to Arteche, one of the world's largest transformer manufacturers;
• Providing legal support for the initial public offering process of Koza Polyester Sanayi ve Ticaret Anonim Şirketi, which is one of the leading companies in the polyester sector;
• Providing legal support for the acquisition of the entire capital of Oktrade Kimya ve Sanayi Ticaret Anonim Şirketi, a top distributor of specialty personal care ingredients, to Azelis.
• Providing legal support to Savino Del Bene Group, which is a leading global company in the logistics sector, in its acquisition of majority shares of Trans Okyanus Denizcilik Uluslararası Taşımacılık ve Dış Ticaret Anonim Şirketi and Boğaziçi Ekspres Denizcilik Lojistik Anonim Şirketi, which are local leading players on freight forwarding market.

Contact:Ms. Efra Aydın Can.

Corporate: We are one of the largest corporate practices in Turkey, advising around 150 local and multinational companies on a day-to-day basis. The primary function of our Corporate Department, co-headed by our partners Mr. Egemen Egemenoğlu and Ms. Günsel Dede involves offering timely and valuable advice to company executives and employees regarding their day-to-day commercial transactions. Additionally, the team diligently reviews and amends contracts before their signing and extends support to clients during the negotiation phases. Finally, our clients continue to be interested in what we call a Legal Tune-Up – a unique, one-of-a-kind legal product we offer our clients – in which our Corporate and Employment Law attorneys audit their compliance with Turkish Commercial, Corporate, and Employment law. The retainer clients of our Corporate Department include, however, are not limited to the following:

• Akınal Sentetik Tekstil Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş. and its subsidiaries, including Koza Polyester;
• İmisk İthalat İhracat Ticaret ve Nakliyat A.Ş. and its subsidiaries;
• Escar Turizm Taşımacılık Ticaret A.Ş. and its subsidiaries;
• Panasonic Electric Works Elektrik Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş.;
• Vivense Teknoloji Hizmetleri ve Ticaret Anonim Şirketi;
• TAV İşletme Hizmetleri A.Ş.;
• Kurtsan İlaçları A.Ş.
• Türkmen Yatırım Holding A.Ş. and its subsidiaries, including Bluemint;
• Yataş Yatak ve Yorgan Sanayi Ticaret A.Ş.;
• Karat Güç Sistemleri Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş.;
• Çilek Mobilya A.Ş.;
• Uludağ İçecek Türk A.Ş. and its subsidiaries;
• Gençoğlu Holding A.Ş. and its subsidiaries, including Penguen Gıda Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş.;
• Maysan Mando Otomotiv Parçaları Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş.
• Copa Isı Sistemleri Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş. and its subsidiaries;
• Üçge Mağaza Ekipmanları Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş. and its subsidiaries;
• Bursa Chamber of Commerce and Industry and its subsidiaries.

Contact:Mr. Egemen Egemenoğlu and Ms. Günsel Dede.

• Employment

Consultancy: Our employment law practice has been a firm cornerstone since it was first established in 1990. Our lawyers now consult, often daily, with our clients’ human resource departments, in-house lawyers, and executives on almost every imaginable employment law-related issue that arises in the normal course of their operations as part of the retainer consultancy services we provide.

Project and Risk Analysis: In one important specialty area of this practice, our attorneys work with clients whose workforces have been, or are being, unionized, providing, among other important services, assistance with the negotiation and implementation of collective bargaining agreements. And, as mentioned above, our employment and corporate lawyers team up to perform periodic reviews of clients’ compliance with Turkish law and also communicate regularly with them about legal developments that may impact their businesses.

Local Employment Litigation: Although much of our work in this practice area is aimed at avoiding, or at least resolving early on, disputes that arise between employers and employees, our employment lawyers are necessarily involved in a considerable amount of litigation. The new work highlights in which the Employment Department is involved are as follows:

• Represented Midal Kablo Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş. concerning their collective labor agreement negotiations with the Turk Metal Union.
• Successfully represented ÜÇGE in a case involving the cancellation of authorization against the Turk Metal Union.
• Provided legal audit and compliance services on employment law to Mescier Demir Çelik San. ve Tic. A.Ş., one of Turkey's 100 largest industrial organizations, in 2023.

Contact:Ms. Ayşe Naz Duman, Ms. Tevhide Sadioğlu Özkan, Ms. Fazilet Karabacaklar, and Ms. Sinem Nur Çetinkaya.

• Banking and Finance:

Historically, there has always been meaningful cross-disciplinary cooperation between attorneys in our banking and finance and restructuring and insolvency practices. During the past decade, however, after Turkey’s unprecedented economic development during the 2000s, its economy has badly stumbled and, more recently, has dipped into recession. As a result, the nature of the work of the attorneys in these practice areas has changed dramatically. Several years ago, in reaction to Turkey’s depressed economic performance, we reorganized these practices, and we now have a team of attorneys, all experienced in banking and finance, who work extensively with distressed companies on the restructuring of their debt, which is held by a variety of financial institutions (both domestic and international). The Banking and Finance Department is headed by our former Managing Partner, now Senior Partner, Mr. Yunus Egemenoğlu. Probably the single most important ingredient in our success is the trust and respect financial institutions in Turkey, including banks, have come to have in and for Yunus. Existing and would-be clients are aware of this, and as a result, we have a busy banking & finance practice in Turkey. The new work highlights in which the Banking and Finance Department is involved are as follows:

• Acting for a Turkish services sector corporation in its financial restructuring of a $230 million debt against several notable Turkish banks.
• Advising a major hotel business and executing its financial restructuring procedures for debts over $130 million.
• Representing the Turkish investment of a widely known private equity company for its financial restructuring.

Contact: Mr. Yunus Egemenoğlu.

• Restructuring and Insolvency:

Practice before Bankruptcy Courts: We have always had an active practice before local bankruptcy courts, representing both creditors and debtors. However, due to the trajectory of the Turkish economy after the 2010s, our workload in this area has dramatically increased. For example, we have over 1,000 cases pending before Turkish bankruptcy and appellate courts, up from no more than half that number a mere five years ago.

Debt restructuring and the use of “Concordatum”: A key part of this practice now involves assisting clients in the demanding negotiations between debtors and creditors related to debt restructuring. In this regard, our lawyers often find themselves advising our debtor clients to take advantage of Concordatum, a type of court proceeding that has only recently become available in Turkey. (Concordatum provides quasi-bankrupt status to financially distressed companies, giving them temporary respite from their creditors.) We were the first firm in Turkey to bring a client under the protection of Concordatum proceedings, and one of our clients was the first to emerge from them after having taken advantage of Concordatum protection to restructure its debts.

Our Restructuring and Insolvency Department is co-headed by Mr. Yunus Egemenoğlu and Mr. Turan Doğan.

Contact: Mr. Yunus Egemenoğlu and Mr. Turan Doğan.