London’s ‘money dome’ was built with $300 million

The General Director of Goldman Sachs Turkey Çağlayan Çetin came across two important offers in 2016. The first one was from Goldman Sachs.

“We want you to represent us in a broader geography in the Asia region,” they said.

The second offer came to Çetin, who was born and raised in Germany, from Deutsche Bank.

“If you come to us, it may open the way for you to become the CEO of Deutsche Bank,” said the manager of the bank.

Çetin could not decide and therefore consulted Ergun Özen, who had settled in London after resigning from the Garanti Bank General Directorate. Özen drew a new road map for Çetin.

“Forget about both offers. At the institutions you have worked so far, you have contributed to the flow of big funds to Turkey. Let’s do it ourselves. Let’s directly take part in supplying resources from London to our country,” he said.

“Let’s build a Turkish investment bank in London,” said Özen.

Çetin leaned towards this offer and drew attention to the most important point.

“If we engage in this business, we need to start off with $300 million in capital,” he said.

Özen spoke with Doğuş Holding chairman Ferit Şahenk, who he believed would invest money in this business.

Çetin spoke with FIBA Executive Board Member Hüsnü Özyeğin and Board Member Murat Özyeğin, who gave him a positive answer.

“We can invest $100 million,” they said.

Özen and Çetin sought the opinion of Rachid Mohamed Rachid.

Rachid was previously President of Unilever for MENA and Turkey, Egypt’s Minister of Foreign Trade and Industry and a leading name in the staff that manages the government fund of Qatar.

While they were only planning to ask for his opinion, they ended up finding the third partner for their bank and formed a legendary staff.

The founding work started in the beginning of 2017 and the bank was named the “Dome Group.”

The founder and managing partners and the executive board of the investment bank was formed by Ergun Özen, Çağlayan Çetin, Murat Özyeğin, Süleyman Sözen and Rachid Mohamed Rachid.

The managing partners of the bank reviewed their operations from previous positions.

“Since today, we have participated in almost $100 billion worth of merger and acquisition operations for Turkish companies,” they said.

The Dome Group defined its facility area as follows:

-In three years, our investors will raise the fund amount to $1 billion. This fund will be used with a special loan and capital finance solutions prepared in accordance with the needs of Turkish companies.
-The companies will be supported with the buying, selling, union and takeover operations. Financial and strategic consultancy will be offered.
-It will play a role in easing access for Turkish companies to international debt and capital markets.
-This goal was especially underlined: The Dome Group will attract long term investments to Turkey by creating collaboration projects between Turkish and foreign companies. It will defend the interest of Turkey and Turkish companies in international investment circles.

On Nov. 27, when Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım’s plane was headed to London, the part spared for the Dome Group in the booklet prepared by the Prime Ministry caught my attention.

The first thing Yıldırım did in London was cut the ribbon of the bank at the opening along with European Union Minister of Turkey Ömer Çelik, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu, ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Deputy Chair Mehdi Eker, AKP Deputy Group Chair Mustafa Elitaş and Turkey’s London Ambassador Abdurrahman Bilgiç.

Later, I went to the bank and had a conversation with Ferit Şahenk, Ergun Özen, Çağlayan Çetin, Hasan Arat and Simit Sarayı CEO Abdullah Kavukcu who also attended the opening.

I thought as I left: Would this staff succeed in bringing another $100 million to Turkey with Dome Group?