Kinstellar launches in Istanbul
June 2010 - Kinstellar, the leading independent law firm for Emerging Europe, announces the launch of an office in Istanbul, Turkey, to serve international clients investing into Turkey and Turkish clients investing abroad. The launch in Istanbul follows the recent opening in the Serbian capital, Belgrade, and underscores Kinstellar’s commitment to providing top class legal services to its clients across Emerging Europe.
Kinstellar will work closely with a group of Turkish lawyers who have established a new Turkish firm called CCAO to advise on Turkish law. CCAO is founded by two leading Turkish lawyers, Halide Cetinkaya and Gamze Cigdemtekin, who are both well known among, and highly respected by, the Turkish business community, international law firms and international businesses with interests in Turkey.
Jason Mogg, Kinstellar’s Firm Managing Partner, comments: “We are very pleased to be launching in Istanbul. We look forward to working with Halide Cetinkaya and Gamze Cigdemtekin and their team to serve our clients’ business interests in Turkey. Turkey is an exciting market for us and plays to our core strengths. It currently has one of the world’s fastest-growing economies and our launch in Istanbul is well timed to meet the growing demand there among international investors for consistent, top-quality advice and service. Coming on the heels of our launch in Belgrade, the opening in Istanbul demonstrates Kinstellar’s underlying strength and commitment to deliver the highest quality service to clients across Emerging Europe.”
Below are some brief background notes on key people at CCAO and Kinstellar:
Halide Cetinkaya has over ten years experience advising leading international and Turkish clients on corporate, M&A and finance transactions, including over three years as head of the banking and finance practice of a leading Turkish firm, Paksoy, and prior to that as in-house legal counsel at Koc-Unicredit Financial Services and as an associate at White & Case, Istanbul. She is one of the key members and founders of CCAO. Her expertise includes banking, project finance and M&A and she has a wide array of experience in other practice areas. Halide has advised Turkish lenders such as Akbank, Yapi Kredi, Is Bank and TSKB, and international lenders, such as JP Morgan, ABN Amro and HSBC. She has acted on many landmark energy and real estate financings for sponsors, borrowers and lenders and has also advised on some of the major M&A transactions in the Turkish market, including: Koc-Unicredit Financial Services in the acquisition of Yapi Kredi Bank and subsequent merger of Yapi Kredi Bank and Kocbank; the sale of a 13:5% stake in Turkcell and the sale of Digiturk by Yapi Kredi Bank; the sale of 50% of Acıbadem Healthcare and Insurance to Abraaj; and the acquisition by Dutch insurance groups of Turkish insurance and pension companies. Halide studied law at Galatasaray University and holds an LLM degree from King’s College, University of London. She is fluent in Turkish, English and French.
Gamze Cigdemtekin has advised on a wide range of corporate and finance transactions in Turkey, including corporate and M&A, large-scale privatisations, energy and infrastructure projects, competition and anti-trust and regulatory matters. She was formerly a partner at White & Case, Istanbul, and also worked in White & Case’s offices in Ankara and Frankfurt. She is one of the key members and founders of CCAO. She has over ten years experience advising major international and Turkish clients in several sectors, including energy, banking, insurance, manufacturing, chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Gamze was listed as one of the top lawyers in FORBES Turkey’s survey by number of cases handled before the Competition Authority since its foundation in 1998. Gamze recently represented Enerjisa (Sabanci & Verbund joint venture) in the $1.2 billion privatisation and acquisition of BEDAS Electricity Distribution Co., and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co, in its acquisition of Un Ro-Ro., a maritime transportation company, with a deal value of $1.2 billion. She has acted for clients such as BASF, Rabobank, Credit Agricole and Alpha Bank in respect of M&A transactions in Turkey. Gamze is fluent in Turkish and English.
Charles Dunn is the Managing Partner of the Istanbul office and a senior member of the firm’s banking and finance practice. A former partner at Linklaters in London, Bangkok and Amsterdam, he has over 20 years’ of international experience advising financial institutions and major multinationals across Europe, the Middle East and Asia.