Çakmak is the counterpart office of Akol, representing White & Case's presence in the capital Ankara. The firm boasts a top-drawer project finance practice that bases itself on possessing a good specialism with energy projects which, allied to its location in Ankara, allows the firm to secure big mandates....
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Çakmak is the counterpart office of Akol, representing White & Case's presence in the capital Ankara. The firm boasts a top-drawer project finance practice that bases itself on possessing a good specialism with energy projects which, allied to its location in Ankara, allows the firm to secure big mandates.
"Çakmak are very good, and always have been," says one finance partner, while another adds: "Çakmak has been very active, and are really very good."
The two biggest projects from the past 12 months are still ongoing concerns. On one, the firm is acting as counsel for Petrobras with regard to Black Sea oil exploration and other development financing of €1 billion, while the other sees the team advising Evonik Steag with regard to a $1.25 billion 600MW imported coal-fired power plant to be built at Iskenderum adjacent to an existing 1210MW plant.
The other area in which Çakmak is strong is in banking, including rendering regulatory advice to both Visa Europe and Bank Julius Baer and in June 2010 the team restructured $235 million in existing term loan and credit facilities for Trakya Elektrik through an amendment agreement.
In capital markets, Çakmak teamed up with Akol to advise Goldman Sachs International and JPMorgan Securities as joint global coordinators and Ak Yatirim Menkul Degerler as domestic coordinators on the $436 million IPO of leading Turkish gold mining company Koza; the deal represented one of the largest IPOs in Turkey since the crisis.
M&A has been fairly quiet for the firm, though leading lawyer Sebnem Onder did advise mining giant Rio Tinto on the sale of a Turkish subsidiary to Park Cam, itself a member of the Ciner Group of Turkish companies.
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