Yaşar Holding’s deep-rooted and sound corporate values and culture, its ethical stance, and its compliance with laws and regulations ensures that corporate governance is integral to all its operations.
A corporate governance framework has been established throughout the Group. It takes into account the interest of all stakeholders and implements the principles of transparency, impartiality, accountability and responsibility. It is regularly reviewed in the light of the Capital Markets Board (CMB) Corporate Governance Principles (CGP). Originally published in 2003, these principles were revised in 2005, substantially overhauled in 2011 (at which time compliance to many of the CGP articles was made mandatory for all publicly-traded companies in Turkey), and took its final form at the beginning of 2014 with the Communiqué on Corporate Governance, most recently updated by CMB.
As a result of the advances made by the Yaşar Group in corporate governance compliance in 2015, the ratings of Pınar Süt, Pınar Pınar Et and Pınar Su on the Corporate Governance Index of the İstanbul Stock Exchange, were revised upward to 9.18, 9.20, and 9.37 respectively.
As early as 2000, the responsibilities of Yaşar Holding’s CEO and the Board of Directors were separated, as recommended by OECD in their Corporate Governance Principles. The Yaşar Group prepared a ‘Handbook of Corporate Governance,’ where all processes and responsibilities, related to governance and to organizational structure, were explicitly defined. The CEO of Yaşar Holding took ultimate responsibility for all the companies within the Yaşar Group. This included all their executive affairs, as well as representing them directly on the Yaşar Holding Board of Directors. This Board would comprise of six members, with three reporting subcommittees (Audit, Early Detection of Risk, and Corporate Governance).
In addition, each publicly-traded Yaşar Group company incorporated two independent directors onto its Board, in line with CMB corporate governance principles, and established the necessary sub-committees for operating in line with the regulations.
A Disclosure Policy - based on transparency and impartiality.
Investor Relations Departments have also been set up in each of the publicly-traded Yaşar Group companies, as required by the Capital Markets legislation. These departments ensure a robust and reliable communication between the Company and its investors.
In addition, a Disclosure Policy, based on the principles of transparency and impartiality, has been formulated and publicly announced. This ensures that investors, stakeholders and the public are kept informed about company-related issues and developments. In line with legal requirements, the information within each communication is delivered in such a way as to be comprehensive, clearly defined, accurate and impartial.
A public disclosure of its remuneration policy, donations policy, compensation policy, and profit distribution policy has also been made by each Yaşar Group company on its respective corporate website.
Detailed information on each of the Yaşar Group companies, their areas of business and their brands, is available on the Yaşar Holding website. Access is also given to the public trading information of the companies via the ‘Investor Relations’ section. Information about their individual operations and progress on corporate governance compliance, as required by CMB regulations, is available via the ‘Corporate Governance Compliance Report’ section, that also includes the Annual Reports.
Each publicly-traded Yaşar Group company has also established the necessary committees, to come in line with the Capital Markets Legislation and CMB Corporate Governance Principles. These three committees are in Audit, in Early Detection of Risk, and in Corporate Governance. Two further subcommittees, in Nomination and in Remuneration, have been established in each company to report back to the Corporate Governance Committee.
All employees of the Yaşar Group companies are required to comply with the principles outlined in the Yaşar Group’s ‘Code of Business Ethics’, which was published in 2009.
A ‘Code of Business Ethics’ for the Yaşar Group was published in 2009 and it is required that all company employees comply with the principles outlined.
Yaşar Holding voluntarily introduced its first measures in corporate governance prior to this concept becoming known in Turkey. From these early days, the Holding has made steady progress, adopting best governance practices and managing its corporate reputation as a valuable, long term asset. Over the years, it has constantly looked to create value, that is sustainable, both for its stakeholders and for society at large. It does this through strong vision and foresight, as well as through implementing proactive and effective operations.