Sigong Law offers to foreign and domestic clients comprehensive legal services in a broad range of corporate law areas ranging from ordinary corporate management, such as management of general shareholders and directors meetings, to more specialized areas, such as M&A (both hostile and friendly), fair trade, and corporate restructuring.
In the M&A area, we provide the following types of legal services:
- Assistance in bidding or proposal;
- Conducting legal due diligence;
- Establishing strategy for sale or acquisition;
- Assistance in hostile M&As (including defense);
- Preparation, review and negotiation of related contracts; and
- Advice on matters relating to completing various procedures including government reporting requirements.
In the hostile M&A area, we recorded a major victory in a highly publicized court case in March 2007 by successfully representing a major shareholder and Korea Alcohol Industrial Co., Ltd. in obtaining from the court an order of upholding shareholder’s proposal of agenda at a shareholders meeting against the management of Dong-A Pharmaceutical, which is under a dispute for management between key family member shareholders. The court order of upholding shareholder’s proposal is the first of its kind rendered by court in the Korean history. In January 2007, we also assisted Kyungbang Limited with its sale of shares in Woori Home Shopping valued at approximately US$500 million.
We also list below some M&A deals that Sigong Law handled after its establishment. Some examples of the transactions that our lawyers handled as the responsible partner or the attorney in charge before joining our firm are also listed below.
- Assisted Korea Alcohol Industrial Co. in its acquisition of the business of Kukje Esther (June 2006, valued at approximately KRW12 billion).
- Assisted 1001 Optical, the largest retail opticians franchisor in Korea, in its issuance of bonds with warrant to a Franklin Templeton fund (June 2007, valued at approximately US$5 million).
- Assisted Standard Chartered Bank in its acquisition of Korea First Bank (2005, valued at approximately US$3.4 billion).
- Represented RealNetworks, Inc. in its acquisition of WiderThan Co., Ltd., a Korean company listed on NASDAQ (November, 2006).
- Advised on the sale of Daewoo Power Train to GM Daewoo (2004, valued at approximately US$100 million).
- Advised Sony Picture Entertainment on joint ventures with C&M and Korea Digital Satellite Broadcasting.
- Assisted the NutraSweet Company in its acquisition of a business from Daesang
- Assisted Unaxis in the acquisition and restructuring of domestic affiliates.
- Advised Suez Energy (formerly Tractebel) in exit from a joint venture.
- Advised a JP Morgan (formerly Chase Manhattan) fund on the acquisition of a major business of Mando Machinery.
- Assisted Fuchs Petrolub AG in its acquisition of shares of SK Fuchs.
- Advised Hitachi Data Systems on joint ventures.
- Advised Qualcomm on the acquisition of shares and convertible bonds of KTF.
- Assisted AB SKF in its acquisition of shares in CR Korea.
- Advised SK Global on dispute relating to joint venture with Samling.