South Korea

Founded in 2000, Jipyong is an independent Korean firm with more than 300 professionals. Based in Seoul, the firm has further offices across major cities around the globe including Suncheon, Busan, Shanghai, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Jakarta, Phnom Penh, Vientiane, Yangon and Moscow. 

Highlights 

The firm is well known for its work in M&A, equity capital markets, projects, restructuring and insolvency practices. The firm is also traditionally strong in the project finance area, especially with expertise in real estate finance. 

During the research period, the firm was very active in banking and finance, equity capital markets, M&A, private equity and projects. 

The firm’s banking team continues to be active providing legal advice on a wide range of transactions, including capital markets, private equity and hedge funds, acquisition financing, real estate/project finance, financial regulations, compliance and fintech. The firm was notably busy with real estate financing in particular, and often advised lenders. 

In the equity market, the firm handled a number of IPOs and listings. Active industry sectors include materials, components and equipment related to the secondary battery, semiconductor and energy industries, including providing guidance to MNC Solution Co. on its listing on the KRX. 

The corporate team was preoccupied with advising clients on transactions in relation to divestments. Apart from that, the team continued to be active in public and private acquisitions as well as joint venture and fund-raising activities. The team was also busy with restructuring work advising both debtors and creditors. The team's highlighted deals involved representing Korea Investment & Securities and Kiwoom Private Equity in obtaining management control of Koryo Nobel Explosives. 

The project team remained active in the energy and infrastructure sector, frequently engaged in cross-border deals. They also played a role in facilitating investments by Korean private companies and state-owned power generation companies in the US and Europe. A noteworthy transaction involved advising Mirae Asset Securities and the lending syndicate for a project financing worth KRW 2 trillion (US$1.4 billion) for the K-Project located in Seongsu-dong. 

Key clients 

Key clients of the firm include Capstone Asset Management, Daehan Real Estate Trust, KB Asset Management, Standard Chartered Bank Korea, Samsung Securities, Lotte REIT, Korea Investment & Securities, Kiwoom Private Equity, and KDB Capital.