Sponsored briefing: Running a people business

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Sponsored briefing: Running a people business

You have been chair of Paul Hastings’ City office since October 2018. What have been your personal highlights of how the firm has developed in London?

Arun Birla (AB): I’ve enjoyed seeing our practices grow, and not just from a client or revenue perspective, but also in other aspects that are particularly important to me – diversity and inclusion, wellness, and on the social mobility front. We’ve built on all those elements – clients, revenues and integrating new partners, alongside what some people might call the softer things, but I don’t like that term. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Running a people business”

Sponsored briefing: Is Turkey’s first regulation on crypto-assets just a beginning?

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Sponsored briefing: Is Turkey’s first regulation on crypto-assets just a beginning?

Although it remains unclear whether cryptocurrencies will replace traditional money in the near future or ever, they have become a global phenomenon lately. Likewise, the economic turbulence in Turkey has led to a surge in swapping the local currency for cryptocurrencies despite their price volatility. According to a recent survey, Turkey has the fourth-highest rate of cryptocurrency use out of 74 countries1.

Background of Recent Developments

With the growing popularity of the crypto market in Turkey, the government’s concerns about using cryptocurrencies for illegitimate activities such as money laundering, terrorist financing, and tax evasion have gradually increased. As a response to all these matters, the signals of the legislative framework for the crypto-assets have been given under Turkey’s 11th Development Plan2. Turkey’s economic roadmap also unveils that the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey shall foster the financial, technologic, and legal infrastructure of digital money by the end of this year3. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Is Turkey’s first regulation on crypto-assets just a beginning?”

Sponsored briefing: Recent arbitration developments in Turkey

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Sponsored briefing: Recent arbitration developments in Turkey

Turkey has been experiencing an upward trend in both international and domestic arbitration especially in the last decade as the practitioners have become more experienced, scholars have been more active in addressing controversial issues and most importantly the case law was significantly developed in the arbitration-related matters.

Pro-arbitration stance of Turkish courts

Barring a few controversial decisions, it would be fair to say that in recent years, the arbitration-related matters dealt by the Turkish courts have become much more sophisticated and the courts have solidified their stance regarding the essential matters of arbitration by rendering arbitration-friendly decisions. There have been several decisions where the courts have applied the principles of separability and prohibition of révision au fond more strictly and without hesitation. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Recent arbitration developments in Turkey”

Sponsored briefing: What start-ups and investors should know

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Sponsored briefing: What start-ups and investors should know

Osman Ertürk Özel outlines prominent legal aspects of start-ups in the light of his experiences at Ankara Technology Development Center

Founders of new startups often spend a great deal of their time trying to enlarge their business project by improving and marketing their product or service, together with hiring valuable employees, attracting potential investors and making them excited enough regarding their business plan to convince for a sufficient amount of investment. Entrepreneurs found ways to achieve the aforementioned goals along with upgrading an idea to a billion-dollar valuation company. Nevertheless, it is no surprise that many major matters are being put aside by the founders, especially at the early stages of a project, on the opinion that they are not critical, since they intend to move things as quickly as possible. Adding cost concerns on top of that will lead them not to receive any legal support or financial consultancy services. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: What start-ups and investors should know”

Sponsored briefing: Evaluation on protection of personal data law for international companies

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Sponsored briefing: Evaluation on protection of personal data law for international companies

KN & Partners’ M Burak Küçüki̇slamoğlu and İ Can Nari̇n on the importance of Turkey-based international companies following the GDPR and PDPL

As is known, with the development of technology and digitalisation, personal data processing activities have increased considerably. In addition to this, through softwares it has become possible to reach almost unlimited personal data. Consequently, this situation raises concerns for individuals in terms of the scope of principle of privacy. In this context, in order to prevent damages that may affect the individual, in other words in order to protect the personal rights and privacy of individuals and to determine the sanctions to be applied in case of violation, it has become necessary to take some precautions. At this point, while General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is accepted among the contries in the European Union; here in Turkey, we encounter a similar regulation: Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL). Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Evaluation on protection of personal data law for international companies”

Sponsored briefing: Pre-contractual negotiations during M&A transactions in Turkey

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Sponsored briefing: Pre-contractual negotiations during M&A transactions in Turkey

The pre-contractual phase of the acquisition of a company or merger of companies typically begins with the first contact between the parties and ends in the best case scenario with the conclusion of the contract. This phase plays a vital role for the wellbeing of the transaction: parties reach various, usually non-binding, but possibly also legally binding preliminary agreements at this stage, from which, possible claims for performance or damages can arise.

Often a ‘due diligence’ is already carried out during this stage, which can serve an important function in the context of warranty claims. Even if the parties have not concluded legally binding preliminary agreements, ‘pre-contractual party obligations’ already arise under Turkish law. Thus, the negotiating parties to an M&A deal bear the risk of being held liable for ‘culpa in contrahendo’, that is a legal principal in contract law for many civil law countries including Turkey, which stipulates the duty to negotiate with care before the contract is concluded. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Pre-contractual negotiations during M&A transactions in Turkey”

Sponsored briefing: Angola – getting back in the game

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Sponsored briefing: Angola – getting back in the game

Morais Leitão’s Claudia Santos Cruz on recent legal developments and the future of the Angolan oil industry in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic

For a brief period in 2009, Angola was Africa’s largest oil producer with production reaching two million barrels per day. Current production is around 1.37 million barrels per day. This reduction is generally attributed to a general reduction in production; low oil prices and more recently Covid-19 pandemic effects. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Angola – getting back in the game”

Sponsored briefing: Acquisition of properties in Turkey by foreign-capitalised companies

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Sponsored briefing: Acquisition of properties in Turkey by foreign-capitalised companies

Starting from the early 2000s, Turkey became increasingly popular in the eyes of foreign investors. By increasing their market share every following year, the real estate investments reached a significant level as a result of such foreign investments, which include different types of investments and investors. Direct investment by acquisition of a property following the incorporation of a company in Turkey; indirect investment by acquisition of shares of a company, which already own a property; or investment by forming of a joint venture with a Turkish company may be regarded as examples of foreign investments in the Turkish real estate market. Similarly, the countries of origin of the investors also diversified throughout the time. Today, in addition to the US and Europe, Turkey welcomes numerous investments from the Gulf Region countries and Far East countries as well.

The main group of investors in the Turkish real estate market include foreign real estate funds/companies; project development companies; investment companies as well as foreign persons who wish to acquire a property in Turkey either for personal use or to obtain Turkish citizenship. The investments may focus on shopping malls, office buildings, residences, or involve construction of hotel projects, entering into partnerships with the owners of completed projects or acquisition of all shares of the same, etc. Furthermore, the investors also prefer to be a part of revenue-sharing agreements or become a partner of the government in construct-operate-transfer1 projects or public private partnership (PPP)2 projects. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Acquisition of properties in Turkey by foreign-capitalised companies”

Sponsored briefing: Closing a project finance transaction in Mozambique during a worldwide pandemic

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Sponsored briefing: Closing a project finance transaction in Mozambique during a worldwide pandemic

The world shut down in 2020, but the largest project finance in Africa could not stop.

The discovery of vast quantities of natural gas off the coast of northern Mozambique in 2010 was the starting point for the Mozambique LNG Project, which led to a $20bn final investment decision in June 2019. In September of that same year, Total (the second-largest LNG player in the world) announced that it had closed the acquisition of Anadarko’s 26.5% operating interest in the Mozambique LNG Project and that the project was finally ready to move on to the next stage. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Closing a project finance transaction in Mozambique during a worldwide pandemic”

Sponsored briefing: Q&A with partner Egemen Egemenoglu

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Sponsored briefing: Q&A with partner Egemen Egemenoglu

1. Given Turkey’s recent economic problems and the problems created by the Covid-19 pandemic, how is this affecting your firm?

We can proudly say that we have successfully surpassed the challenging position that came along with the Covid-19 pandemic in all respectable matters thanks to our comprehensive experience gained throughout the 53 years in which we have provided legal services in Turkey. In these 53 years, our firm had to take innovative and cautious steps in order to tide over many different challenges such as several economic and political crises we have encountered as a country. So, when the first cases of Covid-19 were reported by the officials in Wuhan City, China, in December 2019, we knew that we had to prepare for the worst-case scenario. For this reason, we have accelerated our digitalisation process – thus taking it into a next level even though our digital infrastructure was already at advanced levels. As such, when the first Covid-19 case was announced in Turkey on 10 March 2020, we were already prepared to detach ourselves from our physical offices and started to work from our homes on 15 March 2020 through the decision mutually taken by our partners. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Q&A with partner Egemen Egemenoglu”