About

With a workforce of over 23,000 across 70 subsidiaries and operating in six major geographical areas, ENKA is the largest construction company in Turkey. The legal team’s remit, priorities, challenges and successes are as diverse as the jurisdictions they cover and to a large extent are defined by the economic and geopolitical climate in each of these jurisdictions. The team includes 10 lawyers working for the parent company with separate legal teams under its affiliates. Cem Celiker, chief legal counsel and vice president, leads the group legal team, overseeing a significant increase in its in-house capabilities over the last couple of years. ‘We are now proud to be able to offer a seamless service in respect of many areas where companies of our size usually go to external counsel for advice such as, engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) negotiations, M&A work, compliance, and local litigation’, Celiker says. ‘It would not be wrong to say that the legal team has had some role, large or small, on every major transaction that our company is a party to’. A perfect example of the team’s and the company’s success has been the ability to maintain ENKA’s market position in the global standings of largest construction companies through contractor revenues from projects outside of Turkey. Much more than a back office function, the team recently introduced company-wide, periodic training programs and seminars to increase risk awareness at every level, inviting leading experts in their respective fields to join and continually refining the seminars to reflect ongoing changes in business risk.