Paksoy

Elvan Aziz is the partner heading the corporate practice of the firm, specialising in corporate and company law, employment and real estate matters. She has also been extensively advising sellers, strategic buyers and PE clients in M&A projects. Elvan regularly advises clients on corporate and commercial issues, including establishment of Turkish subsidiaries, corporate restructuring and restructuring of business, legal mergers and spin-offs and corporate governance. She also advises clients on individual and collective employment law matters, including implementation of management incentive schemes, strategy building on HR aspects of restructuring or closure of business, preparation and negotiation of individual and collective employment agreements and internal bylaws, dealings with the trade union as well as collective and individual termination of employees, including top management. Elvan has significant real estate practice expertise covering structuring of real estate development, including residential, commercial property and hotel development, drafting and negotiating relevant project agreements for developers and investors, as well carrying out legal land due diligence to determine whether the property is fit for its purpose. On the M&A side, Elvan has been actively advising clients in various industries for high profile and strategic transactions which includes cross border acquisitions and international joint ventures. She has been acting for foreign and Turkish private equity funds, pension plans, venture capitals and angel investors as well as strategic investors in their investments and acquisitions in Turkey, as well as advising Turkish selling shareholders and families in their transactions of different sizes and sectors.

Togan Turan is the partner heading the competition practice of the firm with extensive experience on antitrust matters, acquisitions and corporate law representing a variety of international and domestic clients. He also takes an active role in privatisations and M&A projects in many industries. Togan has in-depth knowledge and understanding of antitrust and competition matters advising clients in antitrust investigations, cartel and abuse of dominance claims, filed exemption and negative clearance applications. He has also extensive experience in mergers & acquisitions, privatisations representing a variety of international clients in retail, energy, gas, telecommunications, tobacco, banking, insurance, healthcare, food and steel sectors. His experience covers all aspects of transactions from due diligence investigations, contract drafting, and negotiating and structuring deals to advising on regulatory aspects such as competition board filings for those transactions. Togan also has substantial banking and finance experience acting for international financial institutions, lenders and borrowers in cross-border loan facilities.

Ömer Çollak is the partner heading the capital markets practice of the firm with a specific focus on equity, debt and equity-linked transactions representing the underwriters and issuers in initial public offerings, Eurobond offerings, Islamic finance transactions, and private placements. He also acts in regulatory capital issuances under Basel III, and represents clients in structured finance transactions, including but not limited to securitisations. Ömer further has significant experience in listed company mergers and acquisitions in addition to various high-ticket cross border mergers and acquisitions in varying sectors, including financial institutions and retail, acting for private equity firms and strategic investors.

Sera Somay is the partner heading the banking and finance practice of the firm with a specific focus on Islamic finance transactions. Sera works on syndicated and club loans for financial institutions and corporates, acquisition financing, secured financing and other structured financings. Sera advised on the first international Sukuk issuance by the Republic of Turkey and the first Sukuk issuance by a Turkish Islamic bank. She also works on murabaha syndications of Turkish participation banks as well as their annual sukuk issuances. Sera also advises on regulatory M&As across a variety of sectors with a focus on Banking M&As.

Partner

Stéphanie Beghe Sönmez is the partner, regularly advises on foreign law aspects of cross-border mergers and acquisitions, private equity investments, joint ventures, and corporate restructuring for a variety of large foreign and Turkish industrial players and financial investors. She has developed key experience advising investors in diverse sectors in Turkey, including banking and financial services, insurance and private pensions, technology, industry and energy. Stéphanie also has significant expertise in intellectual property and information technology matters, upon which she advises clients in the context of mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, capital markets, licensing, distribution and regulatory compliance.