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Investment Committee
ALİ SABANCI
Chairperson Esas Holding

Ali Sabancı is Member of the Board of Pegasus Airlines and vice chairperson of Mars Sportif which are part of the Esas Private Equity portfolio. He also serves on the board of Esas Properties.

Ali is one of the co-founders of Esas Social, which was established to facilitate sustainable social investment. He focuses on increasing awareness of entrepreneurship in Turkey. As the president of the Young Entrepreneurs Board in the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB), he has led successful projects including Angel Investing Legislation, Global Entrepreneurship Congress, G3 Forum, Global Entrepreneurship Week and TIM Innovation Week - Born Global. He is also an angel investor in more than 25 start-up companies.

Ali is a member of the Turkish American Business Association and the Turkish Family Business Association. In 2018 he was awarded the Légion d'Honneur by the French government for his contributions to economic relations between Turkey and France.

Ali Sabancı earned his M.B.A. degree with a major in International Finance from Columbia Business School and B.A. degree in Politics and Economics from Tufts University.

H. ÇAĞATAY ÖZDOĞRU
Member of the Board & Group CEO

Çağatay (Chaatai) Özdoğru oversees all of ESAS’ investment platforms/business lines including real estate, private equity, venture capital and wealth management, also serves on their investment committees. He is a board member of ESAS Properties, ESAS Wealth Management and various private equity portfolio companies including Pegasus Airlines. 

Çağatay joined ESAS in 2005 as an executive board member and has been the Group CEO since 2010. He played a major role in establishing ESAS Private Equity both in Türkiye as well as abroad. He led a number of ESAS’ private equity investments and exits of various portfolio companies including UN Ro-Ro, Mars Cinema Group, Mars Athletics and Peyman. 

Previously, Çağatay was the president of IT & Telecommunications Investments at Sabancı Holding. Prior to that, he held various positions in the tech & telecommunications industry, where he last served as the executive vice president of the MEA region at Global One, a member of France Telecom Group.

In 2020, Çağatay was appointed as the chairman of Türkiye - France Business Council at DEIK (Foreign Economic Relations Council of Türkiye). Çağatay is also a member of the Board of Directors at TUSIAD (Turkish Business & Industry Associationas of April 2022. He is also a current board member of the Turkish Basketball Federation. Previously, he served as the chairman of Türkiye - Sweden Business Council and Türkiye - Croatia Business Council, and board member of TBV (Türkiye IT Foundation) and TUBISAD (Türkiye IT Industry Association). He was also the president of Sigortamnet İTÜ Basket of Turkish Basketball League between 2018-2019. 

Çağatay Özdoğru earned his M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from George Washington University, where he received the Hall of Fame Award for Alumni in 2016, and B.S. degree in Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering from Istanbul Technical University. 

CUMHUR KUŞÇUOĞLU
Managing Director & Head of Turkish Private Equity

Cumhur Kuşçuoğlu is a Senior Director and the Head of Turkish Private Equity and serves on the Private Equity Investment Committees.

Prior to joining Esas in 2009, Cumhur worked as a Director in the MENA Buyout Fund of the Carlyle Group. From 2002 to 2007, he was a Director at EY, supervising the M&A Advisory Services team in Turkey and Southeast Europe. Cumhur started his career in the Audit Department of Arthur Andersen where he worked for six years.

Mr. Kuşçuoğlu earned his B.A. degree in Economics from Boğaziçi University. 

Cumhur Kuşçuoğlu served on the boards of Mars Cinema Group and UN Ro-Ro until exit and sits on the boards of Mars Sportif, Ayakkabı Dünyası, Bonservis and OPLOG.

EBRU DILDAR EDIN
Investment Committee Member

Ebru Dildar Edin is an Independent Investment Committee Member of Esas Private Credit. 

Ebru currently is independent board member at Rönesans Gayrimenkul Yatırım, Zorlu Energy, MedicalPark, Vice chairperson at Mavi Jeans and Non-Executive board member at Fibabanka. 

Priorly, Ebru pioneered and led the establishment of the Project Finance Department of GarantiBank and led project financing exceeding $50bn for infra, energy, privatization and acquisitions.

Ebru Dildar Edin earned her B.S. degree in Civil Engineering from Boğaziçi University and MBA from Işık University.


MERT TARLAN
Investment Committee Member

Mert Tarlan is an Independent Investment Committee Member of Esas Private Credit.

Mert currently is the Managing Director of Credia Partners - an independent financial advisory firm specializing in M&A and credit advisory and a Director at Firmbridge Advisors based in London.

Mert brings significant private credit experience from his previous roles at UniCredit Markets & Investment Banking and Unit Investment NV. He completed more than 40 transactions in private credit market globally exceeding US$2bn in value 

Mr. Tarlan earned his B.A. degree in Economics from Boğaziçi University and MBA from Washington University.


Portfolio
Altınyıldız
Altınyıldız
Textile
Textile

Altınyıldız is one of Turkey’s leading wool textile manufacturers and exporters, operating one of Europe’s largest integrated wool fabric production facilities located in Çerkezköy.

Investment Status: Active

Investment Date: March 2025

Sector: Textile

Location: Turkey