Shareholder’s Right To Withdraw From Joint Stock Company Mergers

Abstract The purpose of establishing joint stock companies is to make profit via commercial activities and distribute it between the shareholders proportionately. Therefore, despite the ability of joint stock companies to take important decisions which could affect the company’s structure, not all share holders would approve of this. Some shareholders could oppose decisions taken accordingly with concerns raised regarding the wellbeing and future of the partnership. If such shareholders are not part of the decision-making process due to their minority status they could be facing problems. Foreseeing such problems, lawmakers have granted these ineffective minority shareholders who do not have a say in the decision-making process group the right to withdraw from the partnership without requiring them to transfer their shares to third parties. Granting share holders the right to withdrawal is also novel in terms of corporative law applications. Whereas according to the former Turkish Code of Commerce (no. 6762) withdrawal was only possible with the transfer of shares, the new law (no. 6102) introduced articles that allowed for shares to be bought and sold for the exact worth of their shares. This work investigates the meaning of the right to withdrawal and certain articles of the TCC organizing this particular right