Mehmet Ali Deniz
Global Investment Holdings
Group Chief Strategy Officer
Mehmet Ali Deniz has been Group Chief Strategy Officer of Global Investment Holdings (Istanbul) since 2014 and he is responsible for the group’s global mergers, acquisitions, project financing, and debt & equity capital markets transactions. He has been managing Global Port Holdings’ global expansion and had the lead role in growing the company’s portfolio size from 4 ports in 2014 to 35 ports in 4 continents by 2026. Mr. Deniz also led the successful initial public offerings of Naturelgaz and Consus Enerji on the Istanbul Stock Exchange and had lead roles in GPH’s successful IPO, GPH’s debut unsecured Eurobond, and GIH’s unsecured Eurobond issues. He is a board director at EA Energy Ltd. (Bahamas), Afrojoule Energy Holdings Ltd. (South Africa), Naturelgaz A.Ş., İstanbul Portföy A.Ş., GFS Holding A.Ş., Consus Enerji A.Ş., Valletta Cruise Port Ltd. (Malta), Catania Cruise Terminal S.r.l. (Italy), Liverpool Cruise Port Ltd. (UK), Casablanca Cruise Port S.A. (Morocco), as well as board chairman at AD Port of Adria (Montenegro). In addition, he is the investment committee member of L2G Ventures VC Fund.
Mr. Deniz was the CEO of Soma Metalik Madenler A.Ş. between 2011 and 2014, where he managed the group’s domestic metal mines and led the metal mine development efforts abroad and coal-fired power station development projects in Turkey. Before Soma, he was the managing director of RA Invest, where he acted as an investor in metal mining development and operation projects between 2011 and 2013. Mr. Deniz was the head of business development at Global Investment Holdings between 2006 and 2009 and completed several privatization, acquisition, and financing projects in ports, renewable energy, and various other industries. Prior to this post, he worked at the Corporate Finance Department of Global Securities between 1997 and 2006, where he held the managing director post from 2003. He led and completed several capital markets, privatization, and M&A projects totaling more than US$3 bn in Turkey, North Africa and Eastern Europe during his tenure at Global Securities.
Mr. Deniz is a certified corporate governance director from INSEAD International Directors Program that he completed in 2025 and is also a 2017 graduate of the Yale GELP. He completed his BSc at the Bilkent University Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department and also holds an MBA degree from the same university. Mr. Deniz is a member of the Endeavor Association and is also a board member of the Istanbul Equestrian Club.