Actecon is reporting that the 10th Administrative Court of Ankara in Turkey has accepted its arguments on behalf of GOLTAS Cement and annulled the a penalty of TRY 14.5 million levied by the Turkish Competition Authority against it and five other cement producers operating in the Aegean Region of Turkey.

Former Pekin & Pekin Capital Markets Partners Sezin Guner and Ceyda Tapsin have opened a new law firm in Istanbul: Guner & Tapsin.

Yelda Dogan Yasarturk has become the Head of Legal, Middle East & Africa at GSK Consumer Healthcare.

Ece Gursoy has become the Chief Legal Officer at Global Ports Holding plc, the world’s largest independent cruise port operator.

The year of 2018 has begun as an extension of 2017 in Turkey, according to Guniz Gokce, Managing Partner at GKC Partners, the law firm working in exclusive professional association with White & Case in Turkey, who reports that ongoing projects are keeping her firm busy.

Turkey's Pekin & Bayar law firm has announced the promotions of Fatos Otcuoglu to Junior Partner and Ozer Arda to Partner.

HS Attorney Partnership has advised Yavuz Taner on his TRY 50 million sale of 90% of the agricultural group consisting of Alanar Meyve and Alara Fidan to Tekfen Tarimsal Arastirma, the Tekfen Group’s agriculture subsidiary. The deal closed on February 14, 2018. 

CMS Partner Ana Radnev has a unique profile. Born and educated in Romania, joined CMS in Bucharest, then moved first to the firm’s London office (during which time she became English law qualified), then to the firm’s office in Prague. Since 2013, when CMS opened its Istanbul office, Radnev has divided her time between the Czech Republic and Turkey.

Basak Gurbuz is Counsel with The Walt Disney Company in Turkey, a company she joined in August 2015. Before going in-house, she worked for eight years at Gun + Partners and another year and a half at Pekin & Bayar.

As the host of the world’s 17th largest economy and 19th largest population, Turkey’s energy needs are significant – and growing. The country’s energy demand is expected to grow about 5% each year for the immediate future, and the Turkish government has announced its plans to increase the share of renewable sources in the country’s total installed power to 30% by 2023. 

Norton Rose Fulbright has advised Albaraka Turk Katilim Bankasi A.S. on the issuance of its USD 205 million additional tier one capital Sukuk.

It is an outdated understanding to think only of public companies when talking about corporate governance principles. Turkey has always been a center of attraction for foreign investors – the last quarter century in particular was a peak point for M&A transactions and helped change the concept of “family-owned companies” to “multinational companies.” Family-owned companies managed according to traditional principles found themselves in the brand-new corporate world of “partnerships” built upon shareholder agreements.  

Investments can be used as tools to support and enhance a country’s economic structure. The Turkish government has developed some policies which, together, create an appropriate and advantageous investment environment for international and domestic investors.

Turkey’s Data Protection Law, which was published in the country’s Official Gazette on April 7, 2016, established the legal framework for the protection of personal data in Turkey and added new obligations for employers.

The Law on Labor Courts Number 7036 was published and announced in the Official Gazette on October 25, 2017. One of the most important amendments stipulated in this law (the “Law”) is the introduction of a “mandatory mediation” procedure. Mediation is based on a “win-win” philosophy; this is a process where no one loses. 

On November 9, 2017, the editors of CEE Legal Matters sat down with a cross-section of experts from leading law firms and prominent in-house legal departments in Turkey to learn about the current state of affairs in that ever-changing market.

The past couple of years have been particularly challenging for Turkey’s M&A market owing to the domestic and global political climate and the weakened state of the Turkish economy. According to Deloitte’s annual M&A review published earlier this year, the M&A market in 2016 witnessed a total deal volume of USD 7.7 billion through 248 deals, resulting in the lowest deal volume since 2009. 

The Turkish Competition Authority (“TCA”) had initiated a preliminary inquiry into Garanti Bank’s  activities following the complaint lodged by the association representing the Turkish payment and electronic money sector (“ODED” in Turkish).