Biography: Mergers and Acquisitions

Tolga Ismen is the managing partner of Ismen Law Firm. He graduated from Istanbul University's faculty of law and obtained a Masters degree with merit from King's College London in 1998. Before establishing Ismen Law Firm, he worked as an associate at Derman Ortak Avukatlik Burosu (White & Case). He was a part-time lecturer on mergers and acquisitions at Istanbul Bilgi University between 2001 and 2009. He currently lectures on business management to undergraduate students at Sabanci University.

Tolga's practice areas include mergers and acquisitions, privatisations, competition law, telecommunications law and initial public offerings.

He has represented clients in different sectors, not only in Turkey but also in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Tolga speaks frequently on private equity and telecommunications. He is also widely published in telecommunications and competition law. Ground-breaking projects that Tolga led include the privatisation of state-owned ports (including Mersin Port for $755 million), sale of the shares of Migros (the largest private equity investment in Turkey up to date), acquisition and sale of Yudum (quickest exit by a private equity fund in Turkey), the IPO of Emlak REIT (fifth largest IPO in the Istanbul Stock Exchange and first large IPO after the financial crisis), and acquisition of MCT Inc by TeliaSonera (MCT, a US company had operations in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan).

Tolga Ismen was awarded the 'MENA Lawyer of the Year for 2009' by ACQ Magazine and is recognised and been awarded by various international directories. Tolga Ismen is selected as one of the leading 100 lawyers across the globe by Lawyer Monthly Magazine in the category of M&A.

Other Practice Areas

Tolga Işmen also features in the following practice areas:

• Regulatory Communications