Turkey’s 2026 Fund Liquidation: Legal Guide for Foreign Investors and Companies — TL 1 Million Interim Payment, Net Investment, Selling Your Liquidation Claim (TBK Arts. 183–193), Payment Ban, Recovery Account and Actions Against the SPK (CMB)

Turkish version (Türkçe sürüm): Türkiye’de Tasfiye Edilen Fonlar: Yabancı Yatırımcılar ve Şirketler İçin Hukuk Rehberi

On 17 September 2026 the Capital Markets Board of Türkiye (Sermaye Piyasası Kurulu, “SPK”, also referred to in English as the CMB) closed to trading and ordered the liquidation of 131 investment funds run by seven portfolio management companies. SPK counted 455,758 separate investors in those funds. Foreign individuals and companies who held units through Turkish brokerage or bank accounts are in exactly the same position as Turkish investors: the same payment rules, the same deadlines and the same risks apply to them. As at 22 October 2026, liquidation payments have been completed in the 66 funds of A1 Capital, Bulls and Pardus; the 31 funds of Hedef Portföy are being paid in instalments as assets are sold; and in the 34 funds of Tera, Pusula and Atlas an interim payment of up to TL 1 million per investor per fund is expected after a special law is enacted. That law is moving through Parliament: its first five articles were adopted on 21 October 2026, and it has no force until it is published in the Official Gazette. This guide explains, for non-resident investors and for companies whose treasury cash is trapped in these funds, how payments are calculated, what “net investment” means, what happens to the remainder, whether you can sell your liquidation claim to a buyer and what you give up if you do, how the claim can be used as collateral, and which legal actions are open to you before the first deadline on 16 November 2026.

What happened: the decisions of 17 September 2026

By decisions dated 17 September 2026, published in SPK Bulletins 2026/60 and 2026/61, SPK closed to trading the funds of seven portfolio management companies traded on TEFAS (the Turkish fund distribution platform) and ordered the liquidation of 131 of them. Bulletin 2026/61 set out the liquidation procedure. Under its section A/5, the liquidation balance is distributed pro rata to the unit holders whose records have been reconciled, through their custody accounts. Section A/6 dealt with redemption instructions that had been sent but not executed, and section A/8 set the time limit, which SPK decision 59/1710 later set at six months.

Two later SPK decisions of 30 September 2026 created two payment tracks. Decision 64/1770 set the principles of ordinary liquidation for the funds of A1 Capital, Bulls and Pardus. Decision 64/1775 provided for an interim payment of up to TL 1 million in the funds of Tera, Pusula and Atlas, starting with money-market funds. On 15 October 2026 decision 70/1821 removed the 31 funds of Hedef Portföy from the interim-payment track and moved them to ordinary liquidation. The government has set up a Fund Board, chaired by the Vice President of Türkiye, which issues regular statements on payments.

In parallel, a bill on “Certain Investment Funds Ordered to Be Liquidated” (no. 2/3939) was submitted to Parliament on 9 October 2026 and adopted by the Plan and Budget Committee on 14 October 2026. Its first five articles were adopted by the General Assembly on 21 October 2026, and the remaining articles, including Article 6 on the recovery account, were scheduled for 22 October 2026. Until the law is published in the Official Gazette, the SPK decisions remain the applicable framework. A day-by-day record in Turkish is kept on our Fund Crisis Tracker.

Where payments stand, founder by founder (22 October 2026)

According to the Fund Board’s statement of 18 October 2026, about TL 40.8 billion was paid in cash and in kind to more than 45,000 persons in the 66 funds of A1 Capital, Bulls and Pardus, and the number of funds still in liquidation fell from 131 to 65. “In kind” means that portfolio securities were transferred to investors’ accounts instead of being sold first. If you received securities, record their number and value on the day they were credited. A completed liquidation does not end your right to claim damages from those responsible; see Legal actions and deadlines.

Other developments relevant to foreign holders: the SPK chairman resigned on 19 October 2026, and his removal was published in the Official Gazette on 20 October; SPK suspended the activities of the brokerages Alnus Yatırım, Bulls Yatırım and Pusula Yatırım from 00:01 on 21 October 2026. A suspended brokerage’s clients keep their assets: under Capital Markets Law (“SPKn”) Art. 46, client cash and instruments are kept separate from the intermediary’s own assets and cannot be attached by its creditors or included in its bankruptcy estate.

Are foreign investors and companies treated differently?

No. Neither the SPK decisions nor the reported text of the bill distinguish between resident and non-resident investors. A foreign individual or company that holds units through an account at a Turkish bank or brokerage is a unit holder like any other. Payments are calculated and made in the same way, the payment ban applies in the same way, and the same administrative courts hear actions against SPK. Investment funds in Türkiye have no legal personality (SPK Communiqué III-52.1, Art. 3), and their assets are kept separate from those of the founder and the custodian (Art. 5). Your claim is therefore a claim to a share of the fund’s liquidation balance, not a claim against the portfolio management company’s own assets.

Where foreign investors do face specific issues is in the practicalities: receiving Turkish lira into an account, transferring it abroad, proving authority to act for a foreign company, appointing a Turkish lawyer, and dealing with Turkish tax and anti-money-laundering checks. These are covered in Practical steps for non-resident investors. For the general framework of foreign portfolio investment, see our guide Can Foreign Investors Buy Shares on Borsa Istanbul?.

How the TL 1 million interim payment works

The interim payment is governed today by SPK decision 64/1775 and SPK’s announcement of 1 October 2026, and will be governed by Article 4 of the special law once it is in force. Based on those sources and the reported text of Article 4:

An illustration. Suppose a company subscribed TL 3,000,000 to a Pusula fund and redeemed TL 500,000 before September 2026. Before the inflation update, its net investment is about TL 2,500,000. Its interim payment from that fund would be at most TL 1,000,000, and, unless the fund is a money-market fund, no more than the value of its units on 16 September 2026. If the same company also held units in a second Tera or Atlas fund, the TL 1 million limit would apply again to that fund. These figures are hypothetical and only show the method; the actual figure is the one MKK calculates.

Two practical points follow. First, check that your reconciliation is complete: if your intermediary’s records and MKK’s records do not match, you will not be paid until they do. Ask your intermediary in writing whether your account is reconciled. Second, if your units appear as blocked because a redemption instruction failed, see The payment ban and blocked units. A fuller Turkish-language analysis is in our article on the SPK interim payment decision.

Final distributions, the recovery account and the Investor Compensation Center

After the interim payment, the liquidation balance is distributed pro rata to unit holdings as fund assets are sold (Bulletin 2026/61, section A/5; Communiqué III-52.1, Art. 28/2). The interim payment is deducted. Hedef Portföy has stated that it pays on the basis of current portfolio values, not 16 September prices, and the same logic applies generally: what you receive depends on what the fund’s assets actually fetch. Many of the portfolios are concentrated in thinly traded shares, and under Article 3 of the bill, once in force, those assets may be sold by methods other than on the exchange.

The reported explanatory memorandum describes net investment as an upper limit and a distribution criterion for payments, but the operative formula for the final payment was not public in a verifiable form at the date of this guide. If total payments are capped at inflation-adjusted net investment, an investor who invested early and showed large paper gains will not recover those gains through the liquidation. The bill also provides for voluntary return of excess gains by persons who exited before the liquidation.

Article 6 of the bill (not yet adopted at the date of this guide) creates a recovery account. As reported, assets seized or confiscated in connection with the funds may be transferred to the fund or to that account. The account is held at the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF), separate from TMSF’s own assets and kept in sub-accounts for each fund. Its balances cannot be attached, made subject to an injunction or given as security. If the liquidation is still running, recovered amounts are added to the liquidation balance; if it has been completed, they are transferred to the Investor Compensation Center (YTM) and distributed pro rata. YTM acts as a distribution channel and does not pay fund losses from its own resources. Under Article 5, SPK determines the loss and the persons responsible, and TMSF collects from them as a public receivable under Law No. 6183.

The payment ban and blocked units

Article 3 of the bill, adopted on 21 October 2026, will bar payments from the liquidation and from the recovery account to persons whom SPK determines to have committed, together with the funds, market-disrupting acts, insider dealing or market fraud (SPKn Arts. 104, 106 and 107), or to have acted together with the funds. The determination is an administrative act and can be challenged before the administrative courts. For ordinary investors the ban matters in two ways: it does not affect them directly, but anyone buying a claim takes it subject to the ban, and any counterparty will want assurance that you are not within it. See our Turkish analysis of the payment ban.

The same article, as amended in the General Assembly, treats units blocked because redemption instructions sent to TEFAS on or before 17 September 2026 could not be executed (shown as “PBLK” in the investor’s MKK record) as ordinary unit holdings. In our reading, these holders will be paid on the same basis as other holders, rather than with a separate priority under section A/6 of the SPK procedure. Keep your instruction records. Our Turkish guide on PBLK blocked units explains how to read the record.

Offers to buy your liquidation claim

Investors with large balances, particularly companies whose operating cash is trapped, are receiving offers to “buy” their liquidation claims for an immediate payment, or to “finance” them. Turkish law allows a creditor to assign a claim without the debtor’s consent, unless the law, the contract or the nature of the legal relationship prevents it (TBK Art. 183). The assignment must be in writing to be valid (TBK Art. 184). Nothing in the SPK decisions or in the reported text of the bill prohibits assignment. A sale of your right to the interim payment, later distributions and recovery-account distributions is therefore possible in principle.

What you need to understand is what the buyer actually receives. In liquidation, payments may be made only to unit holders (Communiqué III-52.1, Art. 28/2), and your units cannot be redeemed or transferred to the buyer once liquidation has started. The liquidating bank will continue to pay your custody account. A debtor who pays the original creditor in good faith before being notified of an assignment is discharged (TBK Art. 186), and here the payer will argue that it may lawfully pay only the registered holder even after notice. A buyer will therefore ask you for more than a signature on an assignment: typically an irrevocable instruction to your bank to forward the money, a pledge over your account, and undertakings that make you responsible if the money does not arrive.

Our Turkish analysis of whether a liquidation claim can be assigned or factored covers the same ground for Turkish companies.

What you give up and what you guarantee if you sell

The statutory warranty. Under TBK Art. 191, in an assignment made for a price, the assignor warrants by law both that the claim exists and that the debtor is solvent at the time of the assignment. If the warranty is breached, the assignee may recover the price paid with interest, the costs of the assignment and of unsuccessful collection, and other losses unless the assignor proves it was not at fault (TBK Art. 193). For a claim against a fund in liquidation, whose ability to pay is precisely what is uncertain, this matters. The contract should state expressly what you warrant and what you do not; whether and how far the solvency warranty can be excluded by agreement should be checked with counsel before you sign.

The debtor’s defences. The debtor may raise against the assignee the defences it had against you when it learned of the assignment (TBK Art. 188). If you are later found to be within the payment ban, or your units were subject to an earlier pledge or attachment, the buyer will look to you.

Your right to challenge an unfair sale. If there is a manifest disproportion between what you give and what you receive, and the contract was concluded by exploiting your distress, inexperience or thoughtlessness, you may declare that you are not bound or ask for the disproportion to be removed. The time limit is one year from learning of the inexperience or thoughtlessness, or from the end of the distress, and in any case five years from the contract (TBK Art. 28). Error, fraud and duress allow you to avoid the contract within one year (TBK Arts. 30–39). If the written terms do not reflect the parties’ real intention, the contract is simulated and void (TBK Art. 19).

For companies in financial difficulty. A sale at a very low price is presumed to be gratuitous unless the contrary is proved, and gratuitous dispositions made within one year before a certificate of insufficiency or bankruptcy can be set aside at the request of creditors (Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law, “İİK”, Art. 278, as amended in December 2025). Dispositions made with intent to harm creditors can be challenged if enforcement or bankruptcy proceedings begin within five years (İİK Art. 280). A director who sells the company’s claim cheaply while the company is under pressure exposes both the transaction and himself.

Using the claim as collateral; creditors and attachments

A company that needs liquidity may prefer to borrow against its claim from a bank rather than sell it. Claims and other rights that can be assigned can also be pledged (Turkish Civil Code, Art. 954). The pledge agreement must be in writing; notice to the debtor is optional, not a condition of validity (Art. 955). Fund units are dematerialised and recorded with MKK. A security agreement over instruments recorded with MKK must be in writing (SPKn Art. 47); the pledge is recorded in a sub-account through the account-holding intermediary (MKK Communiqué II-13.1, Art. 22); and the date of notification to MKK governs its effect against third parties (SPKn Art. 13). Whether a particular intermediary will register a new pledge over units of a fund that is closed to trading must be confirmed with that intermediary.

Two risks run the other way. If your units were already pledged to a bank, which is common for corporate holders, the bank’s pledge continues over the liquidation proceeds and ranks ahead of any later arrangement. And your own creditors can attach your units or the cash credited to your account. The fund’s own assets, by contrast, cannot be pledged or attached (Communiqué III-52.1, Art. 5). If you have pledged or assigned your claim, keep notarised evidence of the date: priority against attaching creditors depends on it.

Legal actions and deadlines

Payments from the liquidation are only one source of recovery. Unit holders may also challenge SPK’s decisions and seek compensation. Actions against administrative acts must be brought within sixty days (İYUK Art. 7). An application to SPK before suing suspends the time limit (İYUK Art. 11). Compensation for loss caused by an administrative act can be claimed together with, or after, an annulment action (İYUK Art. 12). The deadlines below are those we apply to the decisions published so far:

Separately, claims may lie against portfolio management companies, custodians and distributors, and against individuals found responsible. Once the law is in force, TMSF will pursue those whom SPK holds responsible (bill Art. 5), and the reported text preserves each person’s own liability under other rules, so your individual claims are not extinguished. Amounts you recover from other sources may, however, be taken into account in your final payment so that the same loss is not paid twice; the mechanics will be set by implementing rules. Criminal proceedings are also under way in related share-trading files; a criminal complaint or an arrest is not a conviction, and the presumption of innocence applies. Our Turkish guides on annulment actions against SPK, remedies after the fund law and shortfalls in liquidation payments set out the procedure in detail.

Foreign investors protected by a bilateral investment treaty sometimes ask whether treaty arbitration is available. That requires a specific analysis of the treaty, of whether a fund unit is a protected investment and of the measures complained of, and it is not a substitute for meeting Turkish court deadlines. See our guide to investment arbitration against Turkey.

Practical steps for non-resident investors

Contracts between residents of Türkiye generally cannot be denominated in foreign currency (Decree No. 32, Art. 4/g), but the ban applies only to contracts between residents. A foreign investor contracting from abroad, for example with a Turkish law firm, may agree fees in foreign currency; see our guide on Turkey’s ban on foreign-currency contracts. For transferring proceeds out of Türkiye, see Dividend Repatriation from Turkey for Foreign Shareholders.

Your options compared

Checklist

1. Identify each fund you hold by code and founder, and place it on the right payment track.
2. Obtain your intermediary statement and your MKK record, including any block or pledge.
3. Confirm in writing that your records are reconciled.
4. Estimate your net investment per fund, with dates and amounts of every subscription and redemption.
5. Record every payment received, in cash or in kind, with the date and the price used.
6. Do not sign any receipt that releases further claims.
7. If you receive an offer for your claim, have it reviewed before signing.
8. Prepare apostilled authority documents and a power of attorney for Turkish counsel.
9. Diarise the court deadlines and decide before 16 November 2026 whether to act.
10. Follow the publication of the law and SPK’s implementing rules.

Common mistakes

• Assuming that foreign investors have a separate route or priority. They do not.
• Treating the interim payment as the end of the matter. It is an advance on the final entitlement.
• Assuming that the TL 1 million limit applies once per investor. It applies to each fund separately.
• Selling a claim at a deep discount without reading the warranty and repayment clauses.
• Giving a non-lawyer an irrevocable power of attorney to collect and sue.
• Letting the account that receives payments become dormant or closed.
• Waiting for payments and missing the sixty-day deadline for actions against SPK.

Frequently asked questions

Are foreign investors in Turkey’s liquidated funds treated differently from Turkish investors?

No. The SPK decisions and the reported text of the bill apply to all unit holders. Payments are calculated in the same way and credited to the custody account at the Turkish intermediary where the units are held.

Which funds pay the TL 1 million interim payment?

The 34 funds of Tera Portföy, Pusula Portföy and Atlas Portföy that are in liquidation (SPK decision 64/1775). The 31 Hedef Portföy funds were removed from the interim payment on 15 October 2026 (decision 70/1821), and the 66 funds of A1 Capital, Bulls and Pardus were not covered by decision 64/1775.

Is the TL 1 million limit per investor or per fund?

Per investor and per fund. SPK’s announcement of 1 October 2026 states that the interim payment to each investor is limited to TL 1 million separately for each fund.

How is net investment calculated?

According to the reported text of Article 4 of the bill, MKK calculates it for each investor and fund: inflows and outflows are updated by the arithmetic average of the change in CPI (TÜFE) and domestic PPI (Yİ-ÜFE), and outflows are deducted first-in, first-out.

Can the interim payment exceed the value of my units?

Except for money-market funds, no. It cannot exceed the value of the holder’s units at the unit price valid at the end of the day before the liquidation decision.

When will the interim payment be made?

No date has been set. The Fund Board stated on 13 October 2026 that interim payments for the remaining funds will be made after the special law is enacted. The law is not in force until it is published in the Official Gazette.

Is the interim payment final?

No. It is an advance deducted from your final liquidation entitlement, and your units are not redeemed against it (SPK announcement, 1 October 2026).

When will the rest be paid?

As fund assets are sold, pro rata to unit holdings. The liquidation period is six months, ending around mid-March 2027, and SPK may extend it.

Can I sell my liquidation claim?

In principle yes, by a written assignment without the consent of SPK or the liquidating bank (TBK Arts. 183–184). But in liquidation only unit holders can be paid (Communiqué III-52.1, Art. 28/2), so payments will still reach your account and the buyer will require further protection from you.

What do I guarantee if I sell my claim for a price?

Under TBK Art. 191, an assignor for value warrants by law that the claim exists and that the debtor is solvent at the time of the assignment. If the warranty is breached, the buyer may recover the price with interest, costs and other losses (TBK Art. 193). The contract should deal with this expressly.

Can I undo a sale made at a very low price?

If there was a manifest disproportion and the contract was concluded by exploiting your distress, inexperience or thoughtlessness, you may challenge it within one year of the distress ending or of learning of the inexperience or thoughtlessness, and in any case within five years (TBK Art. 28).

Can a factoring company buy my liquidation claim?

No. Factoring companies may acquire only receivables arising from sales of goods or services documented by invoice (Law No. 6361, Arts. 9/2 and 38).

What is the payment ban?

Once in force, Article 3 of the bill bars payments to persons whom SPK determines to have committed market-disrupting acts, insider dealing or market fraud together with the funds, or to have acted together with them. The determination can be challenged in the administrative courts.

What happens to units blocked because a redemption instruction failed?

Under the amendment adopted on 21 October 2026, units blocked because instructions sent to TEFAS on or before 17 September 2026 could not be executed are treated as unit holdings and are paid on the same basis as other holdings.

What is the recovery account?

Under the reported text of Article 6 of the bill, an account held at TMSF, kept separately for each fund, into which seized or confiscated assets linked to the funds may be transferred. Its balances cannot be attached. Amounts are added to the liquidation balance or, after liquidation, distributed by the Investor Compensation Center pro rata.

What is the deadline to sue SPK?

Sixty days (İYUK Art. 7). For the decisions of 17 September 2026 the last day is 16 November 2026; for later decisions the dates are later. An application to SPK before suing suspends the time limit (İYUK Art. 11).

Do I need a Turkish lawyer, and can I instruct one from abroad?

Court actions in Türkiye are conducted through a lawyer. You can grant a power of attorney before a Turkish consulate or before a notary abroad with an apostille, and instruct counsel by e-mail and video call.

Can I transfer the payments out of Türkiye?

Payments are made in Turkish lira into your Turkish account. Transfers abroad are made through your bank, which will apply anti-money-laundering checks under MASAK rules. Keep your fund statements and payment records ready.

Related guides

• Legal Guide for Foreign Investors in Turkey — company, stock exchange, real estate, tax and arbitration
• Can Foreign Investors Buy Shares on Borsa Istanbul? — brokerage accounts and capital markets rules for foreigners
• Dividend Repatriation from Turkey for Foreign Shareholders — transferring proceeds abroad
• Turkey’s Ban on Foreign-Currency Contracts — when foreign-currency pricing is allowed
• Investment Arbitration and ICSID — treaty remedies for foreign investors
• Fon Krizi Gündemi — day-by-day tracker of the fund crisis (in Turkish)
• Fon Kanun Teklifi Madde Madde — the fund bill article by article (in Turkish)
• SPK Ara Ödeme Kararı — the interim payment decision (in Turkish)
• Fon Alacağı Faktoring ve Devri — assigning or factoring a liquidation claim (in Turkish)
• Ödeme Yasağı — the payment ban (in Turkish)
• e-Devlet’te PBLK — blocked units (in Turkish)
• TMSF Ödeme Emri — TMSF collection under the bill (in Turkish)
• Fon Kanunu Sonrası Hukuki Yollar — investors’ remedies (in Turkish)
• SPK Tasfiye Kararına Karşı İptal Davası — annulment actions (in Turkish)
• Türkiye’de Tasfiye Edilen Fonlar: Yabancı Yatırımcılar ve Şirketler İçin Hukuk Rehberi — Turkish version of this article