Bezen & Partners

The firm: Bezen & Partners is a full-service independent law firm. Its founding members and partners have extensive experience in complex cross-border transactions, gained through their employment in the London offices of Magic Circle firms and Turkish governmental authorities.

Bezen & Partners has a proven track record of successfully implementing innovative and award-winning structures. The firm prides itself on providing its clients with a unique mix of legal and industry expertise across a wide spectrum of practice areas.

Areas of practice: Bezen & Partners advises domestic and international clients across all industries on finance, capital markets, energy, infrastructure, privatisations, corporate law and M&A, real estate, employment, IP & IT laws, dispute resolution and tax.

Finance and capital markets: the firm’s well renowned finance and projects practice is known for its commercially oriented approach and its ability to combine legal expertise with practical experience to deliver timely solutions that are sensible, balanced and tailored to client needs. Our capital markets practice has advised issuers and institutional investors on award-winning debt issuances and leading capital market infrastructures on regulatory compliance and product structuring. Our capital markets client offering includes a full spectrum of primary and secondary debt and capital offerings, swaps and derivatives, corporate governance and regulatory compliance matters.

Energy: the firm regularly advises developers, contractors, investors and lenders on a wide range of power generation projects and assists with licensing, land, regulatory matters and project agreements. The firm’s energy clientele includes the project company for the US$22bn Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant and several international renewable energy developers. The firm also has a strong oil and gas practice encompassing the construction, financing and operation of pipelines and gas storage facilities.

Infrastructure: the firm has extensive experience in greenfield and brownfield infrastructure projects. The firm’s work highlights include advising subcontractors on the $4.1bn Marmaray Transit and $1.1bn Eurasia tunnel projects and advising sponsors on a total of 14 healthcare PPP projects.

Privatisation: headed by the former head of legal of the Turkish Privatisation Administration, the firm’s regulatory department offers unparalleled experience and unique insight into privatisation practices and processes.

M&A: the firm’s M&A practice has implemented landmark acquisitions, divestments and joint ventures and is regularly commended for its ability to combine legal experience with industry knowledge in a practical and commercially minded way. The firm’s work highlights include advising Akfen Holding on the restructuring of its operations in the energy market comprising of more than 50 renewable energy projects, the subsequent sale of such operations and advising EBRD on the acquisition of a strategic minority stake in Turkey’s Stock Exchange.

Corporate and commercial: the firm’s corporate and commercial practice delivers first-rate advice across the full life-cycle of businesses, offering dedicated and continuous support to clients.

The firm assisted China Aircraft Leasing Company (CALC) in the implementation of the first true JOLCO in Turkey by closely working with the governmental authorities on structuring of the transaction and drafting of the documentation.

Real estate: the firm offers advice to property owners, developers, contractors, financiers, funds, asset management and development companies, in relation to the acquisition, development, leasing/renting and sale of commercial property inside and outside of special investment zones, organised industrial zones and free trade zones. The firm also assists clients on commercial property disputes and in land agreement negotiations with various state entities.

Dispute resolution: the firm’s dispute resolution practice has a proven track record of successfully representing clients in various ad-hoc and institutional arbitration and litigation proceedings across a number of industries and jurisdictions.  The firm is involved in many high profile international institutional arbitration cases in construction, energy and shareholder disputes. Serdar Bezen is a listed arbitrator at the London Court of International Arbitration and the Shanghai International Arbitration Center.

Tax: the firm’s tax practice offers a multi-disciplinary approach to help clients develop robust structures that maximise tax efficiency in alignment with their commercial strategy, devising timely, effective and innovative solutions across a full range of international and domestic tax issues. The firm advises on the tax implications of capital markets transactions, banking and finance transactions, energy and infrastructure investments and also handles tax litigation.

IP & IT law: the firm has substantial expertise in intellectual property and information technology matters covering both transactional and litigation work. The firm advises clients on licensing, trademark registration, infringements, patents and designs, invalidation of trademarks and injunctive reliefs as well as information technology laws with particular focus on privacy and data protection, e-commerce, e-money, licensing, software procurement, mobile applications and the associated regulatory and compliance matters.