Lee & Ko law firm news

Herbert Smith, Ashurst, White & Case and Trowers & Hamlins have all played a role in advising on the world’s largest power project financing thus far this year – Abu Dhabi’s US$1.5bn Shuweihat 3 independent power plant (IPP) project. According the Herbert Smith’s lead partner on the deal, Andrew Newberry, the project is a landmark partnership between Japanese and Korean investors in a Middle East energy financing project.

Workplace initiatives encouraging staff fitness have been prevalent in Western firms for some time. But as the 2011 ALB Employer of Choice survey reveals, law firms operating in Asia see exercise as an increasingly important plank in their work/life balance strategies.

oubled Korean automaker Ssangyong appears closer to finalising what has been an arduous restructuring process after Indian conglomerate Mahindra & Mahindra signed a deal to purchase a 70 % stake in the company for US$464m.

Ryoo Shee-yul has been appointed as the acting chairman of Korean banking giant Shinhan Financial group after the resignation of its previous chairman, Ra Eung-chan, at the weekend.

Following the hire of veteran attorney David Yang, Shin & Kim has launched a specialist team for the Latin American region – a first for Korean law firms.

Korea’s Shin & Kim, India’s Khaitan & Co and two PRC law firms are the five best performing firms in this year’s ALB 50, the guide to the largest law firms in the Asia-Pacific region.

Korean law firms Lee & Ko and Shin & Kim have both been awarded advisory roles on the landmark privatisation of Woori Finance Holdings (WFH), the country’s largest bank, fending off eight other law firms including Kim & Chang, Bae Kim & Lee and Yulchon to win the mandate.

A rising trend of consolidation amongst Asian companies have led to a paradigmatic shift in cross-border M&A deal flows as well as increasing the demand for intra-Asian legal advice served.

India’s AZB & Partners, Singapore’s WongPartnership and Korea’s Kim & Chang have benefited from a resurgence in Asian (ex Japan and Australasia) M&A in the first half of this year by claiming the top three spots on legal advisory leader boards, according to data released by mergermarket.

The continuous intra-Asia deal flow in China have tempted Korean firm Shin & Kim to launch a second China office in Shanghai, four years after its debut in Beijing.

韩国世宗律师事务所近日在上海设立了其第二间中国代表处，从而成为在上海设有代表处的第四家韩国律所。

Korean firm Shin & Kim has opened another office in China four years after its debut in Beijing. In addition, the firm has merged with real estate firm Evergreen Law Group.

Korean law firms Shin & Kim and Kim & Chang as well as international players Cleary Gottlieb and Simpson Thacher have acted on the largest ever public offering by a Korean company: the US$4.4bn IPO of Samsung Life Insurance.

Toshiyuki Arai has been appointed as chair of Paul Hastings Tokyo office

Baker & McKenzie and Hunton & Williams have helped Thai National Power on the project development and US$150m financing of a new co-generation power plant in Thailand.

Korean law firm Shin & Kim has been appointed to advise on the sale of troubled automaker Ssangyong Motors.

ALB reports from Seoul on a legal services market that has recovered

Eight law firms have worked on the first listing of a European company on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange’s main board (HKSE) – the IPO of Germany’s Schramm Holdings AG.

In what is the largest nuclear power deal in the world to-date, a consortium led by the Korean Power Corporation (KEPCO) has been successful in its bid to provide four units of 1400MW nuclear reactors to the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC)

Demand for lawyers specialising in international arbitration and antitrust matters in Korea is likely to increase as the legal market opens up to foreign firms and international arbitration gains more ground in the country.