Shin & Kim maintains its esteemed reputation in the market across all areas. Peers refer to the firm with respect and say that in recent years, the firm is furthering its visibility on matters and building on its historic strengths in capital markets and real estate. The firm boasts a 12-partner strong team dedicated purely to capital markets, one of the largest among all Korean law firms, and runs its IPO and structured finance teams separately under the capital markets wing. The banking and finance team had three promotions in May 2023: Hee Young Park, Jaecheong Oh and Na Yu were promoted to partners. It also welcomed Ji Hoon Kim, Jongki Kim and Dong Jun Park as partners in 2022. The firm’s competition/antitrust team hired Seung Hyeon Sung from Yoon & Yang as a partner in May 2022. Eui-Rae Kim and Soon-Youl Kwon also joined as partners from Ministry of Justice and Seoul High Court, respectively. The firm’s M&A team lured Hyun Kim, Sang Min Lee and Yeon Woo Choi as partners from Lee & Ko in October 2022.
Work highlights
Advised Oracle Korea on the imposition of corporate income tax.
Advised Paju Energy Service on a tax appeal for cancellation of imposition of corporation income tax.
Key clients
AIG, GE Capital, Narae Energy Service, Songwon Industrial
Work highlights
Represented Culture Gift Card in a dispute regarding the effectiveness of the gift card business transfer contract.
Represented Korea Ladies Professional Golf Tour in a dispute over the selection of a business operator to grant broadcast rights.
Work highlights
Advised SsangYong Motor Corporation on its rehabilitation proceedings. The transaction was the largest M&A deal involving rehabilitation proceedings in recent years in South Korea.
Advised World Expo 2030 Busan Bid Committee on its dissolution, liquidation and transfer of its work and functions to the Korean government authority.
Advised Central Jungdo on initiating rehabilitation proceedings against Gangwon Jungdo Development.
Key clients
CJ CheilJedang Corporation, DSME Construction, HY Co
Work highlights
Acted as counsel for Chubb on its acquisition of LINA Life Insurance of Korea, Cigna Korea and LINA Financial Service. This is one of the biggest inbound and financial institution M&A transactions ever in Korea.
Advised SD Biosensor on its $1.5 billion acquisition of US diagnostics company Meridian Bioscience. The transaction is the largest M&A transaction in Korea’s pharmaceutical industry.
Key clients
Mando Corporation, Export-Import Bank of Korea, SKC.
Work highlights
Advised Koramco REITs Management & Trust on its IPO and listing on the Kospi market of the Korea Exchange.
Acted for Aspex Management, DST Global Services, Millennium Capital and Sequoia Capital on Kurly’s IPO and listing on the Kospi market of the Korea Exchange.
Acted for Korea Investment & Securities, Citigroup Global Markets Korea Securities, Credit Suisse Seoul Branch and Daishin Securities on Kakao Mobility’s IPO and listing on the Kospi market of the Korea Exchange.
Key clients
Heungkuk Life Insurance, KB Securities, Samsung SRA Asset Management.
Work highlights
Acted as the legal counsel for Asiana Airlines on anticompetition matters arising from its share acquisition by Korean Air Lines. The transaction is a merger between the first and second-largest airlines in Korea, historically fierce competitors in a market with few other domestic players. By creating a near-monopoly across many routes, the deal has drawn global interest. The Korea Fair Trade Commission and US Department of Justice (DOJ) have requested further review. This is the first time the DOJ has asked for more review of a merger between two Korean companies.
Key clients
Koninklijke Philips, Qualcomm, SD Biosensor.
Work highlights
Advised Novelis on the amendment and effective refinancing of its existing credit agreements to increase the facility size, extending maturity by five years, adjusting interest rates and to reflect merger between Novelis and AV Metals pursuant to a Canadian court approval.
Acted for a group of lenders composed of Korea Investment & Securities, Woori Bank, KB Securities and financial institutions on the acquisition financing for DTR Automotive’s acquisition of Doosan Machine Tools from MBK Partners, a global PEF manager.
Key clients
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, Banco Santander, ING Bank, Korea Trade Insurance Corporation (K-SURE)
Work highlights
Advised Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Economico on the financing of the construction of a semiconductor packaging plant in Brazil by Hana Micron’s Brazilian subsidiary HT Micron Semiconductors.
Acted for a group of lenders for the financing of PT HLI Green Power for its construction and development of an electronic vehicle battery manufacturing plant in the area of Karawang, Indonesia.
Key clients
Green Investment Group (Korea), Pacifico Energy Korea, TotalEnergies Offshore Wind Korea.
Work highlights
Advised AIG Insurance Company on its launch of tax liability insurance. This was the first review that concluded that tax investigations or taxation (events which the tax insurance product was designed to insure) could be recognised as an insured event under the Insurance Business Act.
Advised Heungkuk Life Insurance on the review of fundraising plan.
Key clients
Chubb Life insurance Korea, Lockton Overseas, Samsung Life Insurance
Work highlights
Representing SK Broadband in defending a lawsuit brought by Netflix for a network usage fee in Korea.
Advised fintech company Coupang Pay on the applicability of regulations pertaining to ‘telecommunications billing service providers’ under the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection.
Key clients
Honda Korea, Naver Cloud, NS Shopping, Roblox Corporation
