Sezin Elçin Cengiz
Biography
Overview
Sezin leads the Competition/Antitrust practice group at the White & Case Istanbul Office since 2011.
Based on 21 years of dedicated competition law experience, Sezin guides clients through competition law aspects of mergers and acquisitions, counsels them on antitrust compliance matters, and helps them navigate preliminary investigations, investigations and other proceedings before the Turkish Competition Authority. She works closely with our offices worldwide, in particular with our Brussels Office, which handles competition law mandates with an EU dimension, in a number of multi-jurisdictional cases.
She develops optimum transaction structures in terms of compliance with merger control rules, conducts the jurisdictional analysis of merger filing requirements and advises competition-law issues as part of legal due diligence as well as remedies and multijurisdictional considerations. She regularly represents merging parties before the Turkish Competition Authority.
Sezin advises clients on managing risk resulting from antitrust rules on their day-to day operations; designing and implementation of competition compliance programmes, including tailored competition law trainings to board members and employees.
Prior to joining White & Case, she worked for the Turkish Competition Authority for more than 10 years. During her time at the Turkish Competition Authority as a senior case handler, she managed investigations, led on the spot inspection (dawn raid) teams, and performed numerous M&A and exemption/negative clearance assessments as well as privatization cases.
Along with her professional activities, Sezin has represented Türkiye in the EU-Türkiye Bilateral Meeting on Competition Policy, as a delegate responsible for conducting negotiations with EU officials. She has also conducted joint studies with the World Bank, attended the US Antitrust Policy Training program arranged by the US Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission, participated in a number of EU competition law workshops organized by the EU Commission and attended or submitted papers on numerous national/international seminars and workshops.
Sezin has provided Turkish competition law advice to many of our clients including: Nestlé, Pfizer, Amazon, Goldman Sachs, Allianz, BBVA, Societe Generale, Anthem, Dexia, Lukoil, DuPont, Eaton Corp, Boeing, Gama Holding, Çukurova Holding, Yum Brands, Alliance Unichem, Eureko Insurance, BNP Paribas, Colgate-Palmolive, Ahlstrom Capital, Bupa, DMG Mori Seiki, Saudi Aramco, Funai Group, Barclays Capital and Zurich Insurance.
Experience
Representation of SIBUR Holding, a major Russian petrochemical giant, in connection with the US$ multi-billion acquisition and merger with TAIF Group, creating a petrochemical giant valued at US$27 billion and making SIBUR amongst the world's top five polymer producers.
Representation of Synthos S.A., a European chemicals producer and a key player in the global synthetic rubber market, in the merger fillings to the Competition Authority in Türkiye relating to the acquisition of Trinseo S.A.'s synthetic rubber operations, including its manufacturing and research and development facilities.
Representation of Zynga, (NASDAQ: ZNGA), a global leader in interactive entertainment and mobile gaming, in merger filings to the Competition Authority in Türkiye with respect to its acquisition of Forgerhero Yazılım Ticaret Limited Şirketi, a mobile game developer, by Rollic Games (Zynga's subsidiary).
Representation of A15, an entrepreneurial company that invests in digital products and technology brands, on its sale of 86 per cent of its shares in Connect Ads DMCC, a leading MENA provider of digital advertising, to the Aleph Group, a global digital communications and marketing conglomerate.
Representation of the Belgian privately held investment company Cobepa on its acquisition of Corsearch, a global leader in intellectual property and brand protection, based in New York, from US Audax Private Equity.
Provided competition law advice to EQT Group, along with Goldman Sachs Asset Management, in connection with the acquisition of Parexel.
Representation of US-based HDT Automotive Solutions (HDT), the main shareholder in which is private equity investor Ardian, in the merger filings to the Competition Authority in Türkiye in relation to the acquisition of German automotive components group Veritas.
Representation of IFM Investors in the merger filing to the Turkish Competition Authority in connection with the acquisition of an airport in Sydney by IFM Investors Pty. Ltd. and Global Infrastructure Partners.
Representation of a FMCG company in relation to the investigation initiated by Turkish Competition Authority against 29 firms operating in the FMCG, including supermarket chains and suppliers, regarding price increases during the COVID period.
Representation of a major insurance company in Türkiye during two preliminary investigations by the Turkish Competition Authority on price fixing allegations.
Representation of a major insurance company in Türkiye in a full-fledged investigation against 8 insurance companies operating in Türkiye for anticompetitive behavior allegations.
Provided substantial Turkish competition law advice to our client within the scope of an arbitration before the Swiss Chambers' Court of Arbitration.
2020 International Antitrust Year in Review - Turkey Chapter (American Bar Association (ABA))
'Sezin is truly an expert in the field. She turns the most complex topics into clearly understandable briefings. She is extremely hands on and always reachable, another area where she has no room for even the slightest improvement.'
Legal500, 2022
"Winner"
Lexology Client Choice Awards for Competition – Türkiye 2021
"Recommended" - Türkiye Competition
Global Competition Review, 2021
"Ranked as Notable practitioner"
Chambers & Partners, 2021
"One of the best counsels I have worked with anywhere - she literally saved our transaction"
Who is Who Legal, 2021
"Pragmatic, solution-oriented and business-minded"
Chambers & Partners
