Partner
Hee Woong LEE
Corporate Restructuring
Expertise
Recently reviewed Professionals
Hee Woong Lee is a partner in the Corporate Practice Group. His practice focuses primarily in the areas of M&A, Corporate Governance, Hostile Takeovers & Defense and Foreign Investment.
Mr. Lee has wide range of experience in most types of M&A, including comprehensive share exchange, spin-off, JV, and in-kind contribution and squeeze out of minority shareholders as well as typical M&A deals such as stock or asset sale or merger. In particular, Mr. Lee heavily participated in M&A deals with respect to financial, telecom or chemical industries, which generally bring up complicated and complex issues regarding governmental approvals.
Also, Mr. Lee is specialized in hostile takeovers & defense and disputes, and he has outstanding experience in establishing strategies in a timely manner and representing claims or suits raised therefrom.
Prior to joining Lee & Ko, Mr. Lee served the Korean Army for 3 years as a Military Prosecutor (2009 and 2011) and Litigator representing Korean Government in army related court cases (2010). After completing LL.M. in University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, he worked at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP as a Visiting Lawyer (2017-2018).
Mr. Lee has wide range of experience in most types of M&A, including comprehensive share exchange, spin-off, JV, and in-kind contribution and squeeze out of minority shareholders as well as typical M&A deals such as stock or asset sale or merger. In particular, Mr. Lee heavily participated in M&A deals with respect to financial, telecom or chemical industries, which generally bring up complicated and complex issues regarding governmental approvals.
Also, Mr. Lee is specialized in hostile takeovers & defense and disputes, and he has outstanding experience in establishing strategies in a timely manner and representing claims or suits raised therefrom.
Prior to joining Lee & Ko, Mr. Lee served the Korean Army for 3 years as a Military Prosecutor (2009 and 2011) and Litigator representing Korean Government in army related court cases (2010). After completing LL.M. in University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, he worked at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP as a Visiting Lawyer (2017-2018).
Representative Cases
- [M&A]
- Sale of Subsidiaries of AJ Networks, including AJ Park and AJ Capital
- Sale of NS Co., Ltd
- Sale of Semiconductor Solution Product Business of Bistel, Inc.
- Sale of Enswers by Neilson Group
- Sale of Woori Financial Group’s 6 subsidiaries Including Woori Investment & Securities
- LG Uplus’ sale of its PG business to Viva Republica (Toss Payments)
- Spin-off of Chemical Business of Samsung SDI and Sale of Spun-off Business to Lotte Chemical
- Acquisition of Hyundai Oil Terminal by J&PE
- Acquisition of All Box by BRV Capital
- Sale of Hi-mart by Eugene Corp
- Acquisition of Kumho Investment Bank by Woori Financial Group
- CJ CGV’s Acquisition of Blitz Megaplex (PT Graha Layar Prima)
- Asset Transfer between Taekwang Industires and Daewoo International
- [Investment / Pre-IPO / Joint Venture]
- Pre-IPO investment invitation of CJ Oliveyoung
- Series B invitation of Megazone Cloud
- SK Planet’s Spin-off of Platform Business and T-store, Spin-off Merger of LBS Business with SK Telecom and JV (One Store) with Naver
- JV between LG CNS and Megazone Cloud (Cloudgram)
- JV of Data Center Business between Brookfield and Daelim
- JV of Cloud Business between CTC Japan and Megazone Cloud
- JV between All Box and Hyundai Corporation Holdings (Open The Table)
- Indonesia Palm Oil JV between Hyosung Corp and Korindo Group
- [Corporate Governance and Reorganization]
- Sempio Group’s Reorganization of Corporate Governance Structure into Holding Company System
- Simtech Group’s Reorganization of Corporate Governance Structure into Holding Company System
- Glenwood’s Reorganization of Corporate Governance Structure into Holding Company System
- Comprehensive Share Exchange of Hana Exchange Bank Stocks by Hana Financial Group
- Corporate Governance Restructuring of Economic Business Division of National Agricultural Cooperative Federation (Nonghyup)
- SK E&S’ Squeeze-out of Minority Shareholders of Ko-one Energy Service
- [Hostile Takeover & Defense]
- Hostile Takeover Defense of H Group
- Hostile Takeover Defense of T company
- Hostile Takeover Defense of G company
- Hostile Takeover Defense of K company
- Defense of Management Dispute between L company and V fund
Education
| 2017 | University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School - LL.M. |
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| 2009 | Judicial Research & Training Institute, Supreme Court of Korea |
| 2007 | Seoul National University, College of Law - LL.B. |
Work Experience
| 2012-Present | Lee & Ko |
|---|---|
| 2017-2018 | Sullivan &Cromwell LLP |
| 2009-2012 | Judge Advocate Officer |
Languages
| Korean and English |
Awards and Recognitions
| 2021 | Top 10 Power Lawyers in M&A (Senior Level) by Korean Economic Daily |
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Publications / Presentations / ETC
- Practical Problems in Comprehensive Share Exchange between Listed Companies (Co-authored, Korea Commercial Law Association, Research of Korean Commercial Law # 33-1, June 2014)
- Practical Considerations for Contentions at a Shareholders Meeting in the Context of Corporate Control Disputes (Financial Law Center, Seoul National University, BFL (Business Finance Law) #74, November 2015)
- Fairness Opinion and Conflict Matters of Investment Banks (Financial Law Center, Seoul National University, BFL (Business Finance Law) #82, March 2017)
