M&A and corporate advisory

We focus on cross-border China-Turkey transactions: Chinese groups acquiring Turkish targets, Sino-Turkish joint ventures, minority investments, and Chinese strategic exits from Turkish positions. Deal sizes typically range from USD 2M to USD 100M+. We handle all stages: target screening, valuation, due diligence (legal, tax, commercial), structuring, negotiation, closing, and post-merger integration.

For a clean mid-market deal (USD 5 to 30M): 4 to 8 months from engagement to closing. Stages: target identification 2 to 4 weeks, term sheet 4 to 6 weeks, due diligence 6 to 10 weeks, share-purchase agreement 4 to 6 weeks, regulatory clearances 4 to 8 weeks, closing 2 to 4 weeks. Larger deals or those requiring competition clearance run longer. We provide a project plan with milestones in the first week.

Most do not. Turkey is open to foreign direct investment without sector-by-sector pre-approval, except in defence, broadcasting, ports, and certain energy sub-sectors. Competition Authority (Rekabet Kurumu) clearance is required when turnover thresholds are met (TRY 500M combined or TRY 100M from one party). The Investment Office of Turkey (TUİK) is supportive, not a gatekeeper. We coordinate any required filings.

Chinese buyers face two structural challenges that Western buyers do not: (1) outbound approval (ODI), China's MOFCOM and SAFE require filings for any Chinese outbound investment above USD 1M, with strict scrutiny of non-rational investments; (2) payment channels, large USD transfers from China require either onshore-offshore restructuring or Hong Kong or Singapore intermediate vehicles. We coordinate the Chinese-side ODI work with the Turkish-side deal, most deal failures we see come from one side not understanding the other.

Standard scope: (1) legal, corporate documents, contracts, litigation, IP, real estate, labour; (2) tax, Turkish corporate income tax, KDV, withholding, transfer pricing, social security; (3) financial, quality-of-earnings analysis, working capital, debt-like items; (4) commercial, customer concentration, supplier risk, market positioning; (5) compliance, AML, sanctions, anti-bribery, environmental. We run all five workstreams in parallel with Turkish-qualified specialists on each.

Yes. We routinely coordinate the setup of Turkish LLCs (LŞ) and Joint-Stock Companies (AŞ) for Chinese parents. Standard timeline: 14 to 21 days to an operational entity (registration, tax ID, bank account, e-Devlet digital identity). The articles of association, shareholder resolutions, and MERSIS registration are executed by an independent Turkish lawyer and notary; KEP corporate email setup and first-year accounting by the Turkish chartered accountant; we manage the project and the bilingual workflow. For Chinese groups planning significant Turkish operations we recommend a holding structure with a Turkish opco, and we model the tax and FX implications before you commit.