Yıldız Holding and DeMet’s Candy Company, to form a new global company, “pladis”. In 2018, in the course of the Turkish currency and debt crisis, 2018, Yildiz Holding unexpectedly requested its creditors to restructure as much as $7 billion in loans. Yıldız Holding Yıldız Holding is a Turkish conglomerate that is best known for manufacturing food products. The company also produces other consumer goods and has its own retail, private equity and real estate operations. Yıldız Holding is among the largest food manufacturers in CEEMEA (Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa), generating revenues of 34.3 billion TL in 2016
Cem Karakaş Cem Karakaş Cem Karakaş is a business executive. He was formerly the CEO of global biscuit, chocolate and confectionery company, pladis and Executive Deputy Chairman of pladis’s parent company, Yildiz Holding. Prior to serving as pladis CEO, Karakaş held several executive roles at Yildiz Holding, where he was credited with the acquisitions of DeMet's Candy Company and United Biscuits as well as leading the IPO of Bizim Toptan, and the overseeing the restructuring and secondary public offering of Ülker. Karakaş received a bachelor's degree from Middle East Technical University and a master's degree in Finance Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute