Debt collection cases, driven by the ongoing currency crisis in Turkey, as well as shareholder and other partnership disputes, have been the main focus of the Guleryuz & Partners law firm of late, according to Partner Tarik Guleryuz.
“At Guleryuz & Partners, we act for debtors and creditors, whether individual or corporate, in debt collection, insolvency, and enforcement proceedings and provide legal services in complex restructurings as well as M&A transactions and disputes arising thereof,” says Guleryuz. He reports that his firm has recently been handling high-value debt collection cases, mostly on the creditors’ side. Guleryuz explains that the increase in work stems from the ongoing economic crisis in Turkey: “when the economy is not doing very well and exchange rates are unstable, there is naturally an increase in the number of high volume debt collection cases.”
Guleryuz reveals that the cases range in value from EUR 100,000 to the tens of millions. Most recently, his firm helped its clients in collecting a total of EUR 17 million. He explains that one of the key instruments used in the proceedings is the preliminary injunction, which is aimed at seizing debtors’ assets beforehand, as is often the case when the rights of the creditor need to be immediately protected. In one of the recent cases, Guleryuz recalls, a Russian company entered into a takeover agreement with a Turkish one. After the deal had closed, the buyer started having financial difficulties. As a result, the buyer missed payment of several installments and the seller, represented by Guleryuz & Partners, filed for a preliminary injunction against the Russian company.
Guleryuz notes that the number of shareholder disputes has also been on the rise. He explains that these disputes, on average, take a long time to close and, more often than not, end in a settlement: “at the beginning of the year we have closed a shareholder dispute, consisting of around 120 different cases, which had been going on for about eight years.”
Finally, Guleryuz shares his thoughts about the future: “my prediction is that the amount of work is going to increase going forward, partly because of the overall global situation and partly because of our expertise in the field.”
