South Korea

Established in 1980, Bae Kim & Lee is one of the leading full-service law firms in South Korea with approximately 750 professionals and offices across Asia and the Middle East including Seoul, Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Yangon and Dubai. 

The firm is also a member of the World Law Group, an invitation-only international network consisting of 20,000 lawyers from law firms around the world. 

Highlights 

The firm's particularly notable strength lies in its extensive corporate team, which is widely recognised as one of the largest in the country. Additionally, the firm remains highly engaged in the areas of restructuring and insolvency, as well as finance and project development. 

The banking team offers comprehensive legal services for a range of general banking mandates and financing transactions. The firm is particularly active in asset financing and project financing. The team demonstrated particular proficiency in acquisition financing, providing guidance to both borrowers and lenders. Notably, they played a key role in HMM's ship financing for 12 new 13K TEU container vessels. 

The capital markets team was focused on a variety of IPOs, both domestic and international, providing guidance to both issuers and underwriters. The team also aided clients with share capital growth, block trades and share exchanges. In terms of debt capital markets, the firm was heavily involved in advising on the issuance of asset-backed securities and green bonds. Noteworthy transactions include advising on Alipay's sale of shares in Kakao Pay, as well as the issuance of supply chain stabilization bonds and updates to the GMTN programme for overseas markets. 

The corporate team remains occupied with managing public and private acquisitions, financial investments and joint ventures, providing guidance to both buyers and sellers. They were also engaged in advising private equity and venture capital firms throughout the investment process. Notable transactions involved assisting Karina Mobility Services in purchasing 46,323,542 common shares of SK Rent-a-Car from its parent company SK Networks. 

In the project space, the firm is active in the offshore wind and overseas infrastructure sectors. Highlighted deals include advising Korea East-West Power on its guarantee and provision of security as an investor on a KRW 1.9 trillion (US$1.3 billion) project to construct and operate solar energy storage systems in Amaala, Saudi Arabia. 

The firm has recently expanded its banking and finance team by welcoming four partners, namely Jinhyun Seong, Minji Woo, Myung Hyun Ryu, and Ji Young Lee, as well as senior foreign attorney Ju-Young Susie Im. Additionally, the firm has added experienced corporate M&A partner Cholung Choi and senior attorney Chris Mainwaring-Taylor to its project division. 

Key clients 

Key clients of the firm include Mirae Asset Global Investments, CVC Capital Partners, CJ CheilJedang Corporation, Doosan Logistics Solutions, GS Engineering & Construction Corp, Samsung Medison, Incheon Airport, VIG Partners, SK Gas, and Ørsted.