Bonds, Loans & Sukuk Turkey 2021 - Virtual Conference

Alpogan Erdogan was born in Sivas in 1974. He earned his BS degree from Bogazici University, Department of Economics. After working as a treasury dealer in the banking industry for seven years, he continued his career in capital markets as an asset manager and a product/business developer for fourteen years. With his twenty one years’ experience in the financial services sector, He is currently Executive Vice President responsible for product development since October, 2018.

Alex is Founder and CEO of GFC Media Group. He is responsible for shaping the business strategy as well as overseeing the day-to-day running of the company. Launched in 2009 focusing on capital markets conferences in the GCC, the business today operates across 4 continents and delivers market intelligence and peer-to-peer discussion to over 10,000 senior finance and investment executives per year.

In 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, GFC Media Group transitioned its entire business online, having spent 10 years only delivering Live conferences and roundtables.

Prior to starting GFC Media Group, Alex worked in various roles in media, research, and events. He has a degree in Economics and Finance from the University of Durham.

Murat Üçer serves as Global Source's consultant in Turkey, is co-founder of Turkey Data Monitor, and a senior lecturer at Koç and Bosphorus Universities in Istanbul. As a consultant, he provides macroeconomic expertise to commercial banks, multinational corporations and public sector organizations, and gives training programs and seminars on the Turkish as well as global macroeconomic developments. Formerly, he worked as an economist at the Institute of International Finance, Credit Suisse, and the International Monetary Fund and was an advisor to the Minister of Treasury at the Turkish Treasury in 2001 and the Governor of the Central Bank of Turkey in 1997. Mr. Üçer received his B.A. and Ph.D. in Economics from Boğazici University and Boston College, respectively, and has authored several articles on the Turkish economy, including a book on the 2001 Turkish crisis.

Tim is currently an emerging market sovereign strategist at BlueBay Asset Management, working in the emerging market debt team. Tim was previously Head of CEEMEA Credit Strategy at Nomura. He has also previously held positions as Head of EM Research at ICBC-Standard Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland and Bear Sterns.

• Director of research in Is Investment for 20 years.
• Responsible for macro strategy and portfolio allocation for institutional investors and high net worth individuals.
• Prepares a weekly column for daily Dunya for the last 15 years

David Knight is a Senior Economist with the World Bank Group. He has been based in Ankara since 2018 and covers issues of macroeconomics, fiscal management, trade and investment, as well as providing economic advice to other teams in the World Bank Turkey office. David has been with the Bank for around ten years and has previously worked as an Economic Advisor for the UK HM Revenue and Customs and HM Treasury. He holds a bachelor’s degree from London School of Economics in economics and a Master’s degree from the University of Melbourne in economics.

James Sadler is Head of Debt Financing Origination for the MENAT region at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. He has more than 14 years' experience in originating and executing financing transactions for corporates, sovereigns and banks in the CEEMEA region, having previously focused on hybrid and regulatory capital instruments for European issuers. He has recently executed financings for the Abu Dhabi and Qatar sovereigns, Mubadala, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Emirates NBD, Damac, and QNB. James joined BofAML in August 2015, having previously worked at BNP Paribas in Bahrain and UBS in London. He holds an MA in Philosophy, Politics & Economics from Oxford University.

For more than 200 years, Bank of America has been helping people around the world connect with what matters most to them. The company is one of the world's leading financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch is the marketing name for the Global Banking and Markets businesses. Combining local knowledge and global expertise, the company offers products and services across Global Corporate and Investment Banking and Global Markets. In Europe, the Middle East and Africa Bank of America Merrill Lynch has offices in 21 countries across three continents serving the needs of corporate, institutional and government clients.

Görkem Elverici graduated from Middle East Technical University, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering in 1996 and obtained his MBA from Bilkent University in 1998. In 2015, Mr. Elverici completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School and is currently working on his Ph.D. dissertation on Banking & Finance at Kadir Has University. He began his professional career in Isbank in 1998. Throughout his career, he has worked in various middle and senior management positions at İşbank, HSBC, Deloitte Consulting and Accenture Consulting. Mr. Elverici joined Şişecam Group as the CFO of Şişecam Flat Glass Group on March 1, 2013. Mr. Elverici is the CFO of Şişecam Group since May 2014.

Paul Lund was appointed Head of Fitch’s Industrial Ratings group for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, in April of 2016. He is ultimately responsible for ratings in a diverse portfolio including automotive, manufacturing, aerospace and defence, packaging, building materials, and construction companies.

Paul has an extensive experience in credit ratings, having joined Standard & Poor’s in 1998, and a subsequent spell at Moody’s, before joining Fitch Ratings in 2014, covering a wide variety of industries and financing structures.

Paul graduated from the University of Liverpool with a B.Eng (Honors) in Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Management.

Cenker Uçan started his career in PricewaterhouseCoopers Turkey in 2001 and served in different positions. He led audit engagements of companies operating in a wide range of industries, banks and conglomerates in accordance with IFRS, CMB and BRSA regulations and took major additional responsibilities in the PwC. He joined Yıldız Holding in 2010 and appointed as the Group CFO of the Food and Beverage Division of Yıldız Holding in 2011 and has been in charge of finance functions for companies operating in edible oil and fats, dairy, beverage, culinary sectors.

He has been appointed as CFO of Ulker Bisküvi as at May 2016. Between 2016 and 2018, he led the acquisitions of Saudi, Egypt, Kazakhstan and Dubai operations and integration process to the Group. Despite COVID 19 difficult macro-economic environment, under his leadership Ulker Bisküvi has issued Eurobond amounting to 650 mio USD by getting 4 times oversubscription and Ulker Bisküvi became the first Turkish corporate issuer in 2020.

Sule Topcu Kilic is the Deputy Head, Turkey at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). She has been with EBRD since 2014 and reports directly to the Managing Director, assisting him to deliver the country strategy with a specific focus on infrastructure, energy and natural resources sectors and deputize him for the Bank’s operations (administration and budgeting) and lead the policy initiatives in Turkey for infrastructure, energy and natural resources sectors.

Sule Kilic has over 24 years of experience working on a variety of projects in project finance, financial advisory, M&A, private equity, bank acquisition.

During the last 12 year of her career, she took an active leading role in the development of BOT and PPP models in Turkish Transportation and Social Infrastructure Projects in Turkey, by taking a leading role in the preparation of legal framework and introduction of financing related regulations as well as the structuring and negotiations of the template Project Agreements with the relevant governmental authorities (including Ministry of Transportation, Ministry of Health and Turkish Treasury). She also took an active role in the coordination of various stakeholders’ efforts to develop the project financing models to achieve the successful finalization of the projects in Turkish PPP Healthcare Programme as well as Transportation BOT programme.

Before joining the EBRD, Sule has spent six and half years at Unicredit Group, most recently as Managing Director leading project finance activities for the Investment Banking Platform in Turkey.

Prior to Unicredit, Sule held an array of Directorships and Vice Presidencies in project and structured finance, private equity in organisations such as Bayerische Hypo und Vereinsbank (Istanbul), Garanti Bank (Istanbul), Emporiki Private Equity (Athens & Istanbul), CitiBank (Istanbul) and Privatisation Administration (Ankara).

Sule is a Turkish national with a PhD in Finance from Boğaziçi (Bosphorus) University, a Master’s (MBA and MSc) degree from Manchester School of Management (UMIST) (with distinction degree) and BSc in Industrial Engineering from Istanbul Technical University (ITU). She is born in1970 in Gaziantep. She is married and has 2 children.

Gianluca is the Head of Product Development, Sustainable Finance for Fitch Ratings. He is responsible for identifying and developing new ESG products. Gianluca is part of several working groups on Sustainable Finance.

He joined Fitch Ratings in 2018 as a Senior Director in Business and Relationship Management for EMEA. Before that, he spent 13 years working in Capital Markets for HSBC where he originated and structured numerous debt transactions for Financial institutions, Corporates and Public Sector.

Gianluca holds a BSc and MSc in Finance from Bocconi University in Milan (Italy).

Mr. Ayman Amin Sejiny is the CEO of the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the private sector (ICD), the private sector arm of Islamic Development bank Group. Mr Ayman is highly accomplished financial industry leader. He served as Chief Executive Officer of Ibdar Bank BSC, Bank Alkhair, Barclays Capital Saudi Arabia and as the Chairman of Open-Silicon, Inc and Bahrain Financing Company Group as well as a Board member of Unicorn Bahrain. Mr. Sejiny has in-depth knowledge and more than 24 years’ experience in investment and corporate banking in the local, regional and international markets. He held a senior role in a number of regional and international financial institutions, including Citi Bank and ABN AMRO affiliate in Saudi Arabia (Saudi American Bank “SAMBA” and Saudi Hollandi Bank). Mr. Sejiny is Board and C-Level performer with vast experience in innovating financial processes and products. Mr Ayman holds a BA in Finance from Eastern Michigan University, United States.

Salima Lamdouar is a Vice President and a member of AB’s Portfolio Management Group, focusing on thematic credit strategies. Before joining the firm in 2015, she was a generalist portfolio manager at Rogge Global Partners. Salima holds a BSc (Hons) in banking and international finance from Cass Business School. Location: London

Based out of Singapore, Rahul Sheth is an Executive Director in Standard Chartered’s Capital Solutions team, housed within its Capital Markets franchise. In his role as a solutions specialist, he globally heads the green bonds product and has been responsible for leading pioneering green bond transactions for clients across the bank’s footprint including the New Development Bank, Axis Bank, TSKB, Agricultural Bank of China, NTPC, IDBI, Bank of China amongst others. He maintains an active dialogue with investors, regulators and organisations such as the Climate Bonds Initiative and the Green Bond Principles.

Murat Soylu is the capital markets partner of Bezen & Partners. He specialises in corporate and capital markets transactions and represents national and international corporates, banks, financial and capital markets institutions. He leads various IPOs, secondary market transactions, debt instrument issuances and mergers and acquisitions. He is also a member of the Corporate Governance Association of Turkey.

Furkan Unsal is the Managing Partner at UNSAL Attorney Partnership, a boutique law firm specialized in projects, banking & finance, capital markets and corporate transactions. He focuses on structuring, leading and negotiating financing and commercial transactions especially in oil & gas, power & utility and telecommunication sectors. He has involved in many projects and structured financings in the region which are unique and pioneering in its respective area. Before UNSAL Attorney Partnership, he worked for SOCAR as director of legal affairs responsible for projects, debt and equity transactions in Istanbul and worked as an associate at the projects & finance departments of DLA Piper UK LLP and Chadbourne & Parke LLP covering Africa in London. He graduated from Koç University Law School. He is a member of Istanbul Bar Association.

Emre Hatem works at Garanti BBVA as Director of Investment Banking and Finance. He has more than 20 years hands-on experience in project and structured finance, investment banking and restructurings.

He also leads the Sustainability Team of the bank and is the Board Member representing Garanti Bank at LYY Telekom. He is also a member of the Supervisory Board of Turkish Wind Energy Association (TÜREB).

He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from Boğaziçi University, along with a Master’s degree in Management from Marmara University and completed Columbia Business School Emerging Leader Development and Maine University Business Administration Programs.

With over 25 years of Loan and Debt Capital Market experience, Eric is a Managing Director and Head of CEEMEA Origination, Loan Capital Markets, at SMBCE responsible for the origination and structuring of loans for corporates and financial institutions across the full regional and borrower spectrum. Before joining SMBC in 2011, he was employed at Commerzbank New York, Frankfurt and London, where he held various head positions including loans and bonds origination. Eric is a certified Attorney at Law and has worked as such in Germany and the US. Eric is also a member of a group of authors that triennially publish a practical textbook on syndicated lending for borrowers, banking professionals, lawyers and auditors in German language

Osman Yılmaz is Group Chief Financial Officer at Turkcell, the leading converged Communications and Technology services company in Turkey. Osman has a diverse professional experience, which spans from Treasury Management, Portfolio Management and Structured Derivatives. Before Turkcell, he was head of fixed income and multi asset funds at HSBC Global Asset Management, where he spent over 8 years. He holds a BSc in Economics & Management from London School of Economics, MSc in Financial Engineering from Boğaziçi University and a PhD in Mathematical Finance from Ozyegin University.

Ozgur Kutay is the Country Manager for Turkey, Eastern Europe and Central Asia at UK Export Finance (UKEF). In this role, Ozgur manages the UKEF relationships for a number of project sponsors, contractors, governments and financial institutions in the region along with supporting UK exporters to win contracts backed by the UKEF financing offer.

Prior to this position, Kutay served in Citigroup for over two decades with a variety of responsibilities. His roles included running Citibank in Kuwait as the chief executive, managing credit and risk for a region including Turkey, Israel, Caucasus, Central Asia, and leading Citibank’s corporate, financial institutions, and public sector relationships for the same region.

Özlem Gökçeimam is the Director of Financial Institutions at Garanti BBVA. Her responsibilities include Trade Finance, Correspondent Banking and ICG.

Prior to taking up this position, Mrs. Gökçeimam was the Head of Structured Finance at Garanti BBVA.

Mrs. Gökçeimam earned her MBA from Istanbul Bilgi University and holds a BA degree in Political Science and International Relations from Boğaziçi University.

Mert graduated with a BSc. degree in Industrial Engineering from Bogazici University, Istanbul in 2005. He started his career in Consumer Banking in Citibank, Dubai and joined Emirates NBD Group in 2008.

He has been part of Emirates NBD Capital platform since late 2012, focusing on capital market transactions and loan syndications.

Mert has led a number of key transactions across project finance, structured finance, leveraged buy-out landscape and covered key regional markets such as UAE, Bahrain, Egypt, Africa and Turkey.