Dongyon Kim
Lee & KoLee & Ko remains one of the go-to firms in Korea for debt securities transactions, including those involving ESG bonds. The group also boasts capabilities on the ECM side, with recent involvement in flagship IPOs and REITs transactions. Practice head Hyunjoo Oh has a strong reputation for ‘handling local and international issuances of loans and bonds’ as well as considerable experience advising on derivatives, capital markets licensing and compliance, foreign exchange regulations, and disputes. Jun Woo Cho has recently been involved in several major listings on the Korea Exchange and is also a REITs specialist. Seung-A Hyun is active on the debt side, advising major clients on such issues as offshore notes offerings. Han Kyung Lee is a compliance and disputes specialist, while Jiseon Kim’s varied ECM practice covers convertible and exchangeable bonds.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- 'Hyunjoo Oh is brilliant in describing every little detail of deals at lightning speed. She has a lot of experience handling local and international issuances of loans and bonds.'
- 'Lee & Ko's capital markets team is better equipped with current market information than other firms. These days in South Korean capital market, an atmosphere of crisis in PF market appears amongst savings and loan banks. For example, the team is well aware of the current status of, as well as authorities' perspectives on, savings and loan banks.'
- 'Their legal service and work product reflect their deep expertise in capital markets as one of the top firms in Korea. In addition, they work tirelessly to advocate for the client’s interests. On every matter that we worked together, they were responsive, well versed in both Korean and US law, very accommodating to the client and the U.S. law firms.'
- 'The expertise of Seung-A Hyun and Hyunjoo Oh is unmatched. They are thorough, practical, creative, and efficient, all of which are qualities that clients look for yet are not easy to find altogether in a single team. They are also fully bilingual which maximizes efficiency and accuracy while keeping costs low.'
Key clients
- National Pension Service
- Export-Import Bank of Korea
- Korea Development Bank
- Korea Post
- ING Bank
- Standard Chartered Bank
- BNP Paribas
- J.P. Morgan Securities LLC
- Citigroup Global Markets Inc
- Korea Investment Corporation
- Societe Generale
- Korea Investment & Securities Co., Ltd.
- Samsung Securities Co., Ltd.
- SK Innovation
- Meritz Securities Co., Ltd.
- Hana Bank
- KBank
- Shinhan Bank
- NH Investment & Securities
Work highlights
- Advised the underwriters (Korea Investment and Securities Co. Ltd., Mirae Asset Securities Co. Ltd., NH Investment and Securities Co. Ltd., KB Securities Co. Ltd., Credit Suisse Securities (Europe) Limited, Seoul Branch) managing the domestic and international offering of shares issued by Doosan Robotics. This offering raised approximately USD 315 million.
- Advised LG Chem on its issuance of $2,000,000,000 (USD) in exchangeable notes.
- Advised SK Innovation on its public offering capital increase. This offering raised approximately USD 831 million.
Lawyers
Leading associates
Leading associates with regular involvement in their team's key work, and recognition from peers or clients as being ones to watch.
Leading partners
The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.
Hyunjoo Oh
Lee & KoPractice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Hyunjoo Oh