Esas Group: Investing Together, Staying Together

This case opens in June 2022, after Esas Group, one of Turkey’s largest family-owned investment firms, implements a series of changes to professionalize the business and help transition family members from operators to responsible investors. In December 2019, the Group reorganized its structure. Measures were also taken to strengthen governance; for example, independent board members were brought in, and investment committees were formed. In January 2020, the founder, Şevket Sabancı, handed the chairmanship over to his son, Ali Sabancı. Şevket’s daughter, Emine Sabancı Kamışlı, was still vice-chair of the Group, but she had stepped away from overseeing the company’s day-to-day activities. By early 2022, Esas Group had a strong-performing product portfolio and it had started thinking about raising third-party capital. In June 2022, third-generation family member Fethi Kamışlı, who was heading Esas Ventures, received approval from the Esas Group’s board of directors to move the venture capital business. Meanwhile, his cousin Kazım Köseoğlu, was pondering the future of the real estate business. He became managing partner and chairman of Esas Properties in late 2019 when the company hired a CEO to run the Turkish division of the real estate business. Can Köseoğlu and Kerem Kamışlı, two other members of the third generation, had become Esas Group board members, and both were living in London, each making their own private investments.
As the younger generation was coming into wealth and managing their own choices, would the shareholders stay united and use Esas Group with the same level of commitment? What would the future of the holding company look like?