LBF Partners > Istanbul, Turkey > Firm Profile
LBF Partners Offices
BÜYÜKDERE CADDESI NO: 108/1 KAT: 7 34394 ESENTEPE-ŞIŞLI
Turkey
LBF Partners > The Legal 500 Rankings
Turkey > Banking, finance and capital markets
LBF Partners > Firm Profile
The firm: LBF Partners, an Istanbul based law and consultancy firm, provides full legal and consultancy services to its foreign and domestic clients both in Turkey and at international level.
Our practice focuses on banking and finance, capital markets, corporate and commercial law, competition, energy, foreign investment, information technology law, data protection, intellectual property, litigation and arbitration, white-collar crime and compliance.
All of our team members hold LLM and/or PhD degrees from well-known international universities, and we have either long-standing work experience at the regulatory and supervisory authorities in Turkey, or years of experience in large law firms.
LBF Partners was established half a decade ago by lawyers with many years of experience. The unique qualifications of our team members enables us to combine legal theory and practice at all times.
Areas of practice
Banking and finance: covers acquisition finance, term loans, syndicated loans, asset finance, structured finance, project finance, fintech, financial regulation, compliance and sanctions, financial restructuring and resolution, real estate finance and Islamic banking and finance.
Capital markets: covers public offerings of capital markets instruments including, but not limited to, shares, bonds, mutual funds, sukuk, other securities, publicly-held joint stock companies and their transactions, investment companies and collective investment schemes, capital market institutions and their activities, investor and investment services, takeover bids and derivatives.
Commercial and corporate law: covers company formation, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, corporate restructurings, drafting commercial contracts and share or asset sales/purchases/inter-company transfers.
Competition law: covers merger notifications to the authority, representing our clients in cartel or abuse of dominance investigations, representing our clients in antitrust disputes before Turkish courts, compliance and sanctions and advising on any competition law related matter.
Energy law: covers electricity, natural gas, oil and LPG markets, renewables and mining related regulatory advisory, mergers and acquisitions, project development, construction and installation, environmental requirements and dispute resolution.
Domestic and international dispute resolution: covers advising on pre-dispute matters, structuring and re-structuring of investments, advising on complex settlements, representing in all sorts of contractual disputes, debt collection, contentious insurance and reinsurance, other sophisticated matters in particular shareholder disputes and disputes arising from M&A, and arbitration.
Data protection: covers advising on data protection compliance and all related matters.
As well as the main fields of practice listed above, LBF Partners provides legal services on foreign investment, information technology law, intellectual property, white-collar crime and compliance.
Main Contacts
| Department | Name | Telephone | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Banking & Finance | Dr. Nusret Cetin | ||
| Banking & Finance | Elif Copur | ||
| Capital Markets | Dr. Nusret Cetin | ||
| Capital Markets | Elif Copur | ||
| Commercial and Corporate Law | Elif Copur | ||
| Energy, Natural Resources and Environmental Law | Mehmet Suat Kayikci | ||
| Foreign Investment | Elif Copur | ||
| Data Protection | Elif Copur | ||
| Domestic and International Dispute Resolution | Mehmet Suat Kayikci |
Staff Figures
Total number of lawyers : 20Languages
Turkish EnglishDiversity
We aim to create and sustain a working environment where everyone respects each other and protects each other’s personality and self-esteem. We also aim to support our team members to work in a peaceful environment and to develop their professional career. We want our team members to reflect the diversity of our clients and society as much as possible and to get creative in our work environment. For this reason, we recruit and reward talented people who embrace international ethical principles regardless of their background, gender, ethnic origin, age, religion, and political belief. We never tolerate any type of biases and discriminatory behaviours within our environment and we always present equal opportunity where we make our assessments based on objective criteria.
Interviews
Mehmet Suat Kayikci, Partner
Partner Mehmet Suat Kayikci discusses LBF Partners’s core values and vision. What do you see as the main points that differentiate LBF Partners from your competitors?
Our core team members have in-depth technical knowledge and experience in their respective fields. The team consists of leading specialists, who have either worked for authorities in Turkey including Capital Markets Board of Turkey and Energy Market Regulatory Authority or other big firms.
Although LBF Partners’ roots do not date back to our ancestors, there is one of a kind synergy in the team with many years of earlier professional experiences in practice, at universities as academics and experts at governmental authorities. We are very much proud of our technical fund of knowledge which helps us reverting to the clients with the most accurate as well as the fastest advice. Other than this distinctive feature of LBF Partners, we have a unique atmosphere where we all work in a peaceful environment with a great passion to legal practice and sophisticated legal matters of our clients.
Which practices in your member firm do you see growing in the next 12 months? What are the drivers behind that?
Energy is one of the active sectors in Turkey for the last couple of years, and we expect this to continue especially with new deals in the field of renewables such as solar and wind due to feed-in tariffs.
Considering fluctuations in Turkish Lira and along with certain legislative changes, we experienced many financial queries such as foreign currency contracts and the atmosphere in the financial markets. We, therefore, expect continuous developments in a couple of months term relating to finding new financial instruments for companies. On this basis, we know that we will be working on various matters relating to financial & banking law and capital markets.
Obviously, apart from above, M&As will continue, corporate re-structuring works including inter-company mergers for tax optimization purposes will occur, and data protection compliance will retain its importance for companies as there is a new piece of legislation in Turkey since 2016.
Last but not least, we are very well aware of the fact that there are many disputes that needs to be resolved, and we will be working on various sophisticated cases relating to contractual disputes, debt collection, contentious insurance and reinsurance and especially shareholder disputes and disputes arising from M&A transactions, as we are doing currently.
Is technology changing the way you interact with your clients, and the services you can provide them?
Considering the current era of technology, we are keeping up with the new practices for a better & easier communication for sure. We are also very flexible to meet our client’s expectations with thinking new solutions and/or creating new tools at LBF Partners.
Can you give us a practical example of how you have helped a client to add value to their business?
We worked with one of our clients for their new investment in Eastern Europe, where we played a key role for their expansion out of Turkey, not only with our advice within the legal framework but also with our commercial considerations along the way together with them.
In another occasion, we were involved in an energy related regulatory matter where in-depth technical knowledge was required. With our involvement, the matter came to an end with a creative new solution.
At LBF Partners, we have totally different approaches and policies. We believe in creating values with our proven technical expertise & many years of practice and combining the strengths where & if necessary. That is to say our priority is providing the best quality services and bringing the most appropriate solutions at all times; nothing else.
Are clients looking for stability and strategic direction from their law firms – where do you see the firm in three years’ time?
Clients look for stability and strategic direction from their law firms, however they are expecting out of the box thinking, fresh practices and new solutions as well as stability and strategic direction. Therefore, we consistently put ourselves in clients’ shoes and walk with them. We also always engage with our clients at partner level. This enables us to develop shoulder to shoulder working practice and provide unique quality of services.
In three years’ time, we aim at providing services not only to European and Turkish clients but also to clients from Gulf area, all over America, Asia & China, with the same quality of services regardless of the increasing demand.
Interviews
Mehmet Suat Kayikci, Partner, LBF Partners
Partner Mehmet Suat Kayikci discusses LBF Partner’s core values and vision. What do you see as the main points that differentiate LBF Partners from your competitors?
Our core team members have in-depth technical knowledge and experience in their respective fields. The team consists of leading specialists, who have either worked for authorities in Turkey including Capital Markets Board of Turkey and Energy Market Regulatory Authority or other big firms.
Although LBF Partners’ roots do not date back to our ancestors, there is one of a kind synergy in the team with many years of earlier professional experiences in practice, at universities as academics and experts at governmental authorities. We are very much proud of our technical fund of knowledge which helps us reverting to the clients with the most accurate as well as the fastest advice. Other than this distinctive feature of LBF Partners, we have a unique atmosphere where we all work in a peaceful environment with a great passion to legal practice and sophisticated legal matters of our clients.
Which practices do you see growing in the next 12 months? What are the drivers behind that?
Energy is one of the active sectors in Turkey for the last couple of years, and we expect this to continue especially with new deals in the field of renewables such as solar and wind due to feed-in tariffs.
Considering fluctuations in Turkish Lira and along with certain legislative changes, we experienced many financial queries such as foreign currency contracts and the atmosphere in the financial markets. We, therefore, expect continuous developments in a couple of months term relating to finding new financial instruments for companies. On this basis, we know that we will be working on various matters relating to financial & banking law and capital markets.
Obviously, apart from above, M&As will continue, corporate re-structuring works including inter-company mergers for tax optimization purposes will occur, and data protection compliance will retain its importance for companies as there is a new piece of legislation in Turkey since 2016.
Last but not least, we are very well aware of the fact that there are many disputes that needs to be resolved, and we will be working on various sophisticated cases relating to contractual disputes, debt collection, contentious insurance and reinsurance and especially shareholder disputes and disputes arising from M&A transactions, as we are doing currently.
Is technology changing the way you interact with your clients, and the services you can provide them?
Considering the current era of technology together with the COVID-19 atmosphere in the world, we are keeping up with the new practices for a better & easier communication for sure. We are also very flexible to meet our client’s expectations with thinking new solutions and/or creating new tools at LBF Partners.
Can you give us a practical example of how you have helped a client to add value to their business?
We worked with one of our clients for their new investment in Eastern Europe, where we played a key role for their expansion out of Turkey, not only with our advice within the legal framework but also with our commercial considerations along the way together with them.
In another occasion, we were involved in an energy related regulatory matter where in-depth technical knowledge was required. With our involvement, the matter came to an end with a creative new solution.
At LBF Partners, we have totally different approaches and policies. We believe in creating values with our proven technical expertise & many years of practice and combining the strengths where & if necessary. That is to say our priority is providing the best quality services and bringing the most appropriate solutions at all times; nothing else.
Are clients looking for stability and strategic direction from their law firms – where do you see the firm in three years’ time?
Clients look for stability and strategic direction from their law firms, however they are expecting out of the box thinking, fresh practices and new solutions as well as stability and strategic direction. Therefore, we consistently put ourselves in clients’ shoes and walk with them. We also always engage with our clients at partner level. This enables us to develop shoulder to shoulder working practice and provide unique quality of services.
In three years’ time, we aim at providing services not only to European and Turkish clients but also to clients from Gulf area, all over America, Asia & China, with the same quality of services regardless of the increasing demand.
Spotlights
BANKING, FINANCE AND CAPITAL MARKETS
Banking, finance and capital markets is one of our core practice areas. On the banking & finance side, we advise banks and other financial institutions, investors and governmental agencies in the field of banking and financial law. Our banking and finance team provides legal services for all financial transactions including, acquisition finance, term loans, syndicated loans, Islamic banking and finance, asset finance, structured finance, project finance, fintech, financial regulation, compliance and sanctions, financial restructuring and resolution, real estate finance.
In the capital markets, we advise banks and other financial institutions, publicly held joint stock companies, capital market institutions, local and foreign investors, and other capital market players for all capital market transactions including public offer of capital markets instruments: shares, bonds, mutual funds, sukuk, other securities, etc., publicly-held joint stock companies and their transactions, investment companies and collective investment schemes, capital market institutions and their activities, investor and investment services, takeover bid, derivatives, compliance & sanctions.
DISPUTE RESOLUTION
LBF Partners provides full legal and consultancy services to its foreign and domestic clients both in Turkey and at international level. We represent high-profile local and international companies as well as individuals in litigation with their sophisticated cases.
We advise on pre-dispute matters, structuring and re-structuring of investments, complex settlements. We represent our clients in all sorts of contractual disputes, debt collection, contentious insurance and reinsurance, complex structuring and in particular shareholders disputes, disputes arising from M&A transactions and in the recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards and foreign court orders in Turkey.
ENERGY
We have a highly qualified energy law team which consists of legal experts that have worked at the Turkish Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EPDK) and academics with global reach and strong presence in Turkish energy law practice. We advise international investors, energy companies, and governmental agencies on all aspects of complex energy matters relating to the full range of energy sectors, including, but not limited to electricity, gas, oil and LPG markets and renewables as well as nuclear.
We provide legal and consultancy services to our clients on compliance with energy market regulations and their applications to the EPDK in order to minimise delays, costs and disputes in relation to their operations in this sector.
CORPORATE AND COMMERCIAL
We are distinguished by our commercial and corporate law practice. Our commercial and corporate law team provides legal services to leading local and international firms on large and complex commercial transactions including but not limited to company formation, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, advising on commercial activities of corporations, corporate restructuring and drafting commercial contracts.
Our corporate and commercial law practice is supported by our team members specialised in different areas, including energy, competition, capital markets, banking and finance, and administrative law which allow us to provide legal consultancy with a way broader point of view.
- Banking, finance and capital markets