Maeil Business News Korea, Dec. 3, 2015
Meet Kim Sang-gon, intermediary of mega billion M&A deals in Korea
On October 30, 2015, history was made in Korea’s merger and acquisition market, as two multibillion dollar deals were announced in a day.
Lotte Chemical and Samsung Group had board meetings separately on this day and announced Lotte Chemical would acquire Samsung SDI’s chemical business, Samsung Fine Chemicals and its subsidiary Samsung BP Chemicals for 3 trillion won. Just hours later after the announcement, SK Telecom confirmed rumors that it would acquire CJ Hello Vision for 1 trillion won.
The two separate mega deals drew great attention from the industry as they signified the beginning of voluntary restructuring through M&A in the country’s corporate sector.
Behind these deals was Kim Sang-gon, a lawyer at Lee & Ko in Seoul. Kim, 47, advised Hanwha on another mega deal between Samsung and Hanwha in November of last year. He advised Samsung during the Samsung-Lotte deal. He also advised the SK-CJ deal for SK.