Egemenoglu Law Firm > ISTANBUL, Turkey > Firm Profile

Egemenoglu Law Firm Offices

Egemenoglu Law Firm
VADISTANBUL BULVAR AYAZAGA MAH. AZERBEYCAN CAD. 1 B BLOCK NO: 109 B
OFFICE NO: 56 FLOOR 25
34418 SARIYER
Turkey
Visit website 90 212 283 5555 90 212 269 2917

Egemenoglu Law Firm > The Legal 500 Rankings

Turkey > Restructuring and insolvency Tier 2

Egemenoglu Law Firm has, in recent years, directed some of its broader banking and finance expertise into the restructuring and insolvency arena, with Yunus Egemenoğlu and Turan Doğan now co-leading a dedicated practice. The use of Concordatum procedure, an option for distressed companies in search of certain protection, is a particular area of expertise, and the team also has strong experience in multijurisdictional restructuring processes. Litigator Dilek Gürsan is a further contact to note.

Practice head(s):

Yunus Egemenoğlu; Turan Doğan

Other key lawyers:

Dilek Gürsan; Sinem Akan; Çağlar Yavuz

Key clients

DRD Fleet Leasing

TACA Construction

Demsa

Ferko Yapı

Koton

Pakpen Group

Pupa

Elimsan Switchgear

Hun Holding

Çiftçiler Holding

Work highlights

  • Acting for a Turkish services sector corporation in its financial restructuring of a $230m debt against several notable Turkish banks.
  • Advising a major firm and executing its financial restructuring procedures on a debt of in excess of $130m.
  • Advising Turkey’s largest MEP contractor on its financial restructuring of debts of up to $2.5m against Turkish banks.

Turkey > Dispute resolution Tier 3

Operating from offices in Istanbul and Burca, Egemenoglu Law Firm fields a robust practice for local litigation in a range of practice areas, as well as developing a strong offering in cross-border disputes in recent years. For international arbitration, practice co-head and senior partner Egemen Egemenoğlu is the name to note, with Didem Keles Pınar, Dilek Gürsan and Günsel Dede the litigation experts.

Practice head(s):

Günsel Dede; Dilek Gürsan; Didem Keleş Pınar; Egemen Egemenoğlu

Other key lawyers:

Ayşegül Yiğit

Testimonials

‘Egemenoglu is a large legal house in Turkish terms. It looks like they have hundreds of lawyers. Over the year we took many cases to them and every time ended up meeting the specialist in the area in addition to our regular contacts. They are very professional, fast and reliable. Their technology seems top of the line with the addition of robots following case materials.’

‘I had a chance to work with a number of people with different titles and seniority levels (mid level associate to senior partner) and they were all very attentive, responsive and open to suggestions.’

‘The firm is experienced in International Arbitration and was instrumental in providing resources, legal research and junior and senior legal support in 2 recent arbitrations. The firm demonstrated superior responsiveness to our needs in handling large document cases, superior research skills, and superior senior legal strategy skills in the preparation of direct and cross examinations and in the preparation of expert disclosures.’

‘Egemen Egemenoglu and Irem Pelin, in particular, stood out as exceptional. Egemen, as senior partner, and Irem, as junior associate were tireless in support of the client’s causes.’

‘The Egemenoglu team’s capability for handling a broad spectrum of high profile, high value, and complex disputes/ projects, together with their in-depth familiarity with regional legal rules and their strong point of view on the cross-border aspects of the matters, always make their clients feel safe as a result. Furthermore, thanks to the efficient incorporation of technology into their systems, all business and transactions can proceed within the framework of transparency’

‘Our projects/ works are particularly challenging and at a level where they can be accomplished by highly trained experts. In this context, we worked with Egemen Egemenoglu, Dilek Gürsan, Efra Aydin Can and Ayşegül Yiğit from the team of the Egemenoglu law firm, and their ability to handle the processes with effective leadership and strong communication skills, as well as their capacity to keep us, as the client, continually updated, made them stand out.’

Key clients

Blue Horizon Corporation

Chassis Brakes International

Çimtaş Pipe and Çimtaş Precision Machining

Compagnie Financière Richemont SA

DRD Fleet Leasing

Elimsan Switchgear

Görkem Construction

Teknogon Teşhir

Houghton International

Investrade Company

Kafkas Confectioners

Layher

Lotus Holding

Nurol Investment Bank

Penti

Work highlights

  • Represented a company in the Turkish manufacturing sector in a commercial arbitration before the SIAC.
  • Representing the inheritors of one of Turkey’s well-known businessmen with respect to a dispute under inheritance law that amounts up to $10m.
  • Representing a Turkish education institution in a real estate dispute valued at over $10m.

Turkey > Employment Tier 3

Egemenoglu Law Firm is experienced in both contentious and advisory employment matters, with practitioners regularly representing clients in litigation. The practice has a diverse client base consisting of Panasonic, Saydam Fabrics, Teknogon Fittings and Maysan Mando Automotive, among others. Dilek Gürsan  is well-versed in contentious employment issues and co-heads the team alongside associate Fazilet Karabacaklar who has expertise in collective bargaining law.

Practice head(s):

Dilek Gürsan; Fazilet Karabacaklar

Other key lawyers:

Yunus Egemenoğlu

Testimonials

‘Have a specialised legal staff and a corporate sustainable structure.’

‘We are very pleased with the cooperation between our company and Egemenoglu Law Firm. All employees are experts in their field and we get support for all our employee and employer problems.’

‘Egemenoglu is a large legal house in Turkish terms. Over the year we took many cases to them and every time ended up meeting the specialist in the area in addition to our regular contacts. They are very professional, fast and reliable. Their technology seems top of the line with the addition of robots following case materials.’

‘Perfect Communication, fast in responses and quick problem-solving, efficient suggestions. High in tech use.’

‘I like the fact that there are lots of lawyers specialised in their fields and when we send an email to an account that is special to our company, the available lawyer in that field gets back to us. I also know they invested heavily in their technology infrastructure.’

‘Accessibility of the lawyers is very good. Sometimes it feels like they were waiting for our emails. Also, the experience of the lawyers and the fact that the same people seem to be sticking around for so long are other satisfactory points.’

Key clients

Akınal

Arcon

Arzum

Ayakkabı Dünyası

Bayrak Rubber

Çimtaş Pipe and Çimtaş Precision Machining

DRD Fleet Leasing

Eyüp Sabri Tuncer A.Ş.

MarinSA Denizcilik A.Ş.

Maysan Mando Automotive Parts

Onko Koçsel Pharmaceuticals

Panasonic Life Solutions

Pro-Per

Saydam Fabrics

Teknogon

Turkmen Group

Üçge

Vivense

Work highlights

  • Represented HMY Teknegon Dış Ticaret A.Ş. with respect to an appeal before the Supreme Court in relation to the authority of the Turkish Metal Union.
  • Represented ÜÇGE Group companies with respect to their collective labour agreement negotiations with the Turk Metal Union.
  • Represented and provided legal assistance to Grammer Koltuk Sistemleri San. ve Tic. A.Ş. in the matter of collective dismissal process of over 80 employees.

Turkey > Commercial, corporate and M&A Tier 5

Egemenoglu Law Firm fields a ‘top-notch legal team‘ for corporate and commercial matters and is especially strong across the textile, construction, and manufacturing industries. The practice is frequently engaged in M&A, as well as being the chosen counsel for a variety of companies on their day-to-day corporate issues. Founding partner Egemen Egemenoğlu heads the firm’s international transactions and projects group, and is supported by 2022 partner appointment Efra Aydın Can, who leads the newly formed M&A/projects department.

Practice head(s):

Efra Aydın Can, Egemen Egemenoğlu

Testimonials

‘Egemenoğlu has a great team that serves even in the most sophisticated deals in an agile fashion. They have top-notch legal team in-house. Their communication skills and client handling is stellar. They efficiently use all the tech tools and pay utmost attention to details.’

‘The individuals that I have worked with have a high level of sacrifice and perseverance which are great qualities when faced with challenging deals. Efra Can Aydin specifically stood out in the latest transactions along with her team.’

Key clients

Erbak-Uludağ İçecek San ve Tic. A.Ş.

Uludağ Maden Suları Türk A.Ş.

Halla Holding Corp. and its Turkish subsidiary Halla Corp. Europe Otomotiv Yedek Parçaları San. ve Tic. A.Ş.

Alke Sağlık Ürünleri Sanayi Ürünleri San. ve Tic. A.Ş

IST Capital BV

Penguen Gıda San. A.Ş.

Nurol Yatırım Bankası A. Ş.

Quaker Houghton B.V.

Misli Elektronik Şans Oyunları ve Yayıncılık A.Ş.

Copa Isı Sistemleri A.Ş., Copa Endüstriyel Ürünler Pazarlama A.Ş.

5K Telekomünikasyon Yatırım Danışmanlık ve Ticaret A.Ş.

Chassis Brakes Int. Oto. San. ve Tic. A.Ş.

Midal Cables Ltd.

Maysan Mando Oto. Parçaları San. ve Tic. A.Ş.

Eren Holding

Küçükçalık Tekstil Ticaret ve Sanayi A.Ş.

Türkmen Holding A.Ş.; and Bluemint Magazacilik A.S.

İMİSK İthalat İhracat Ticaret Ve Nakliyat A.Ş.

TACA İnşaat ve Ticaret A.Ş.

Arcon Kozmetik Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Şirketi

Panasonic Life Solutions Elektrik Sanayi Ve Ticaret A.Ş.

Work highlights

  • Advising a Turkish transformer manufacturer and its former shareholders on the €18m acquisition of their shares by a Spanish multinational corporation.
  • Acting for a Turkish packaging company and its former shareholders in the  €40m acquisition of their shares by a Swiss multinational corporation.
  • Acting for a Turkish cable manufacturer and its shareholders in the €85m acquisition of their shares by a well-known Turkish group.

Egemenoglu Law Firm > Firm Profile

The firm: Egemenoğlu is one of the oldest, and largest, law firms in Turkey, advising leading local and international clients for over 50 years  (since 1968). In our two offices, one in Istanbul and the other in Bursa, we employ some 50 attorneys (five partners and nearly 45 associates).

Our multi-discipline firm’s busiest practice areas, presently, are dispute resolution; commercial, corporate and M&A; employment; restructuring and insolvency, and media and entertainment. We also have vast expertise and experience in banking and finance and in the real estate and construction sectors.

Areas of practice
Commercial, corporate and M&A: Because of Turkey’s stagnant, and more recently contracting, economy, there has been a precipitous drop in M&A transactions and financings. Despite this, our lawyers have completed several M&A deals in the past year. In this regard, several of our clients have taken advantage of the slowdown to either consolidate or spin-off parts of their operations, and we were engaged to assist them.

The economic downturn has not otherwise seriously impacted our commercial and corporate practice, where our lawyers continue to consult with clients on a day-to-day basis regarding a wide variety of issues relating to the operation and governance of their businesses, such as negotiation and drafting of key contracts and related documentation as well as assisting with complying with corporate formality requirements.

Our corporate lawyers also conduct, with lawyers from our employment practice, reviews of our clients’ compliance with existing Turkish law, and prepare periodic sector-specific legal bulletins and articles to keep our clients up-to-date about relevant legal developments. In the newest part of this practice area, our corporate lawyers work with clients with regard to Turkey’s new Privacy Act, developing and implementing bespoke internal practices and procedures necessary to ensure compliance with the Act’s strict requirements.

Employment: As outside employment counsel: 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.

In one important specialty area of this practice, our attorneys work with clients whose work forces 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. For example, in just the past year we have represented clients in this regard in some 350 court cases.

Dispute resolution, and international arbitration: Local litigation: We have one of Turkey’s busiest dispute resolution practices. At any one 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.

International arbitration:  Our dispute resolution lawyers have recently been engaged by several Turkish contractors to pursue multimillion-dollar damage claims related to construction projects in Turkmenistan and arising under the Turk-Turkmen Bilateral Investment Treaty. All of these matters are, or will be, before ICSID, the highly-regarded arbitration forum of the World Bank.

Restructuring and insolvency: Practice before Bankruptcy Courts: We have always had an active practice before local bankruptcy courts, representing both creditors and debtors. More recently – given that, after Turkey’s rapid economic growth in the 2000s, its economy has stagnated much of this decade, and more recently has turned recessionary – 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.

Media and entertainment: Our lawyers in this practice area represent both performing artists and companies that organize concerts, festivals and similar events, including arranging, or providing themselves, services related to ticketing, security, catering and even merchandising. In that capacity, we are involved in among other things the negotiation and drafting of the numerous contracts related to these activities, including for example providing such support for local and international concert tours.

Main Contacts

Department Name Email Telephone
Employment Ms. Fazilet Karabacaklar Fkarabacaklar@egemenoglu.com +90 (224) 253 2200
Media and Entertainment Mr. Egemen Egemenoğlu Egemen@egemengolu.com +90 (555) 499 6666
Commercial, Corporate and M&A Ms. Efra Aydın Can eaydincan@egemenoglu.com +90 (536) 847 8705
International Arbitration Mr. Egemen Egemenoğlu Egemen@egemengolu.com +90 (555) 499 6666
Dispute Resolution Ms. Dilek Gürsan Dgursan@egemengolu.av.tr +90 (212) 283 5555
Banking, Finance and Capital Markets Ms. Efra Aydın Can Eaydincan@egemenoglu.av.tr +90 (224) 253 22 00
Restructuring and Insolvency Mr. Yunus Egemenoğlu Yunus@egemenoglu.av.tr +90 (212) 283 5555

Staff Figures

Number of lawyers : 50

Languages

English
French
Turkish

Other

Main Contact : Mr. Yunus Egemenoğlu, Managing Partner

Diversity


As Egemenoğlu Law Firm, we believe that we have built the foundation of a diverse and inclusive culture based on the concept of “family” and we have an approach that will ensure and encourage the continuity of developments in this regard. While we are proud of our dynamic, strong, creative, and diverse staff, we are determined to continue this approach to welcome individuals who will add more value to our team with each passing day.

While we currently have more than 75 employees in our Istanbul and Bursa offices, we are proud to say that our female employees make up 80% of this. As a proud signatory of UN Women’s Empowerment Principles, we think that it is our “responsibility” as a law firm in Turkey to create a space for women lawyers and other employees where they can take their careers to another point. For this reason, we hope to witness the days when recruitment methods based on gender-based discrimination end all over the world by assuming our role and maintaining this approach in the following years.

Further, we are very proud to be able to create an environment where our employees can embrace and share all kinds of happiness, sadness, and problems, regardless of they are related to their personal or work lives. We believe this success is due to the extra activities not related to the law which we have carried out face-to-face with our employees in the period before Covid-19 and online in the post-Covid-19 period. The activities we organize and are currently continuing to lay and strengthen the foundations of the diversity and inclusion concept our firm embraces include, but not limited to the following:

  • Sailing Training,
  • Yoga and Meditation Sessions,
  • Economics and Finance Training,
  • Communication and Leadership Training,
  • Foreign Language Trainings.

In Egemenoglu Law Firm, we created an environment within the company, in which our employees approach each other with respect before anything else and then see each other as “family”.

International Capabilities


INTERNATIONAL

Egemenoğlu Law Firm is increasing its international capacity day by day with its professional team which can accompany its clients in the international area and responds to all kinds of assistance requests of the globalizing world. As a natural reflection of the Firm’s strong focus on technological developments, the Firms enables its clients to cross the borders professionally in terms of both consultancy, litigation and any kinds of legal procedures.

THE CLIENTS

Egemenoğlu is the biggest supporter of its clients from all over the world in all kinds of legal disputes and matters of law with its multidisciplinary team. The firm has worked and continiues to work with client companies which are operating in the international area presently but not limited to the following:

  1. A venture capital firm that invests in investment agriculture, food and media sectors from Switzerland,
  2. One of the world’s three largest manufacturers of automotive foundation brakes and foundation brake components,
  3. One of the world’s leading companies in the field of luxury goods, with particular strengths in jewelry, and luxury watches and writing instruments,
  4. A global leader company in delivering advanced metalworking fluids and services for the automotive, aerospace, metals, mining, machinery, offshore and beverage industries from the USA,
  5. A firm which is investing its customers’ funds in accordance with the principles of Sharia law,
  6. A global leader German company that designs and produces the most preferred scaffolding systems in the world,
  7. A worldwide IT company,
  8. Numerous Turkish companies with national and international reputation specifically in the fields of production, energy, transportation, construction, textile, investment and retail etc.

THE GLOBAL NETWORK

Egemenoğlu, who has opened its vision and mission not only to Turkey but also to international fields, has made many collaborations with law firms, experts / companies abroad, especially in countries such as USA, UK, UAE, Switzerland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Egypt, Russia and Singapore. The Firm aims to maximize the service it offers thanks to numerous collaborations.

Furthermore, Egemenoğlu has kept strong communication with organizations that appear in the international community. Our firm is a member of Belgian-Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce in Turkey and the Foreign Economic Relations Board of Turkey.

Notable Cases


As Egemenoğlu Law Firm, we, proudly and through the experience of now over 53 years, represent our national and international clients with respect to their national and international disputes before both Turkish and foreign courts and arbitral tribunals; serve and provide legal assistance to our clients with regards to a variety of different fields such as commercial, corporate, employment, criminal, IP, entertainment, bankruptcy and enforcement law. Some of the landmark cases we successfully managed earlier and deliberately putting forward our utmost work at the moment include, but not limited to the following:

  • Represented DRD Fleet Leasing, a pioneer in the fleet vehicle leasing industry of Turkey which was ranked, in 2019, as the 76th largest company by Turkey Fortune 500, with respect to the refinancing and restructuring of its €570 million of debt held by numerous financial institutions (45, to be precise, including such giants as Credit Europe Bank, Abraaj Group and ICD).
  • Representing a leading Turkish construction company in an investor-state arbitration before ICSID where our client seeks recovery of the damages in excess of $400 million it suffered due to the destruction, impairment and unlawful expropriation by Turkmenistan of 32 uncompleted Turkmen projects.
  • Representing a leading company in the Turkish retail sector with respect to its refinancing and debt restructuring project in the amount of $250 million prepared by our Firm, involving negotiations with several leading Turkish banks such as Denizbank, Sekerbank and Is Bankasi.
  • Representing a Bahrain-based investment company in its efforts to recover funds believed embezzled by a Swiss-based investment advisory firm, with which our Client had entrusted with approximately $70 million dollars of its customers’ funds.
  • Representing a giant Turkish construction company against government of Turkmenistan with BIT claims amounting over $50 million before ICSID regarding a construction project of an oil refinery.
  • Represented a leading Turkish construction company in an investor-state arbitration before ICSID where our Client sought recovery of damages totalling up to $20 million in disputes related to the construction of a shopping plaza and trade centre in Turkmenistan. This was the first and the latest investor state arbitration case brought by a Turkish contractor and settled against Turkmenistan.
  • Representing a leading Turkish construction company in three different commercial arbitration cases before ICC which our Client seeks recovery of damages up to 20 million Euros related to three different and complex construction projects executed with Malta-based companies.
  • Representing a leading Turkish investment bank as plaintiff, in litigation involving two separate but related lawsuits – one in a Turkish court and the other in a Dutch one, with several ancillary protection of assets and enforcement procedures pending in both countries, where our client is seeking to recover unpaid principal of approximately US$30 million, along with accrued interest.
  • Represented Uludag Beverage, a pioneer in the Turkish beverage industry, on its successfully executed second round of financing in the amount of 15 million Euro with EBRD.

Legal Business Magazine


Sponsored briefing: Q&A with partner Egemen Egemenoglu 

Client Testimonials


CLIENT: Kersi Master
COMPANY/FIRM: Midal Cables Ltd.
TESTIMONIAL: “Egemenoglu Hukuk Burosu brings to the table, a team with legal expertise, court craft and professionalism, with the commitment to deliver a successful outcome for their Clients. They always go the extra mile to ensure client satisfaction. It has been a pleasure working with them.”

CLIENT: Gökhan Yüce –
COMPANY/FIRM: Küçükçalık Tekstil Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S.
TESTIMONIAL: “We have been working with Efra Aydin Can more than 8 years, in this period we are very pleased to work with her brilliant ideas, smart approaches to the cases, very good analysis and high quality service that she provided to us.“

CLIENT: Şenol Aktüre
COMPANY/FIRM: Ventura A.S.
TESTIMONIAL: “As a corporate finance advisory firm, we have been working in collaboration with Egemenoğlu’s M&A team for many years, in both sell and buy side transactions. In almost all of the deals that we have worked together, the team has handled the entire process in a very proficient manner ensuring a smooth closing process. Egemenoğlu team manages all projects in a very diligent and strategic manner always coming up with high-quality products within short periods of time. The team surely shows a great deal of dedication to their work and makes all parties feel secure all along the way. Egemenoğlu’s tremendous level of assistance, which facilitate and shortens the negotiation period is also appreciated by the counterparties. They were always responsive to our requests, ready to tackle any hardships coming their way and gained our trust to the fullest extent.”

CLIENT: Özgür Altuntaş
COMPANY/FIRM: Nurol Investment Bank
TESTIMONIAL: “Egemenoğlu team always provides a prompt and comprehensive response. What I value most is their ability to highlight the key risks which allows us to take prompt decisions and assess the legal risk that our firm might be open. They are very pragmatic, but are not hesitate to express clearly the legal risks involved to ensure it is heard and understood. They make the most difficult of legal challenges has been key in helping our business not to get any legal problems for our complicated deals. The team is extremely experienced in the complexities of difficult litigation processes, especially a major issue in Turkey. I think they are one of the top teams for business crime: commercially-focused and vastly experienced.”