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On March 12, 2026, Hahn & Company Air Services Holdings entered into a share purchase agreement with Korean Air, under which Hahn & Company agreed to sell its entire stake, representing 80% of the total issued shares, in Korean Air C&D Services Co., Ltd. (“KC&D”) to Korean Air for KRW 750 billion. The transaction is expected to close after June 2026. 

Lee & Ko advised Hahn & Company from the earliest stages of the transaction and led the deal throughout its entirety, providing comprehensive and timely advice across every phase. This included reviewing the transaction structure, preparing responses and materials for the buyer’s requests for information, developing negotiation strategy, and conducting legal analysis of the relevant issues in connection with the buy-side due diligence process, as well as drafting, negotiating, and executing the transaction documentation, including the MOU, NDA, and share purchase agreement. 

Given the circumstances of the parties, the transaction required a number of complex issues to be resolved within a tight timeframe. The parties held differing positions on key points of negotiation, including the purchase price adjustment, the refinancing structure for the acquisition financing, and special indemnification provisions, calling for careful and deliberate negotiation. Throughout this process, Lee & Ko worked closely with the client to understand its objectives, proposed practical alternatives and optimal solutions, and helped strike a balanced outcome in the negotiations, contributing to the successful execution of the agreement within a limited timeframe.
 

Lee & Ko successfully secured a full acquittal at both the trial and appellate levels for Mirae Asset Global Investments Co., Ltd. and Mirae Asset Life Insurance Co., Ltd. (collectively, “Mirae Affiliates”) in a criminal case alleging violations of the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act (“MRFTA”).

The prosecution alleged that the Mirae Affiliates unfairly allocated business to golf courses operated by an affiliate with a high ownership ratio held by a specially related party, thereby conferring undue benefits. The trial court rendered a full acquittal on January 16, 2025, and Lee & Ko prevailed again on appeal on October 24, 2025. The appellate ruling is particularly noteworthy given that related administrative litigation, after dismissal by the Seoul High Court, remains pending before the Supreme Court.

The principal issue in the criminal proceedings was whether the Mirae Affiliates possessed the requisite criminal intent to confer, or to tolerate the conferral of, undue benefits upon a specially related party through the use of group-owned golf courses.

Lee & Ko argued that establishing criminal intent with respect to abstract legal concepts under the MRFTA requires strict and careful proof. The firm emphasized that criminal liability should not be imposed where corporate group-level decisions reflect reasonable business judgment. Lee & Ko demonstrated that the use of group-owned golf courses formed part of a rational asset management strategy and that there was no intent or acceptance of conferring undue benefits.

Through meticulous review of documentary evidence and extensive witness examination, Lee & Ko successfully established the absence of criminal intent. The decision is particularly significant given the limited criminal precedent concerning the conferral of undue benefits to specially related parties. The appellate court clarified that criminal intent cannot be inferred solely from formal considerations, such as a high ownership ratio of a specially related party or the mere potential for indirect advantages in management succession, and underscored the need for caution in recognizing intent in the context of abstract statutory concepts under the MRFTA.

 

Lee & Ko advised Petrico Partners PE on the acquisition, through LAAA Investment (“SPC”), of a controlling stake in Kakao Games, a KOSDAQ-listed company, leading the transaction from the execution of the share purchase agreement, new share subscription agreement, and convertible bond subscription agreement on March 24, 2026, through to closing on June 19, 2026. The transaction consisted of (i) the SPC's purchase of 18,107,732 existing shares of Kakao Games from Kakao, the seller, for approximately KRW 248 billion, (ii) the SPC's subscription for 17,458,354 new shares issued by Kakao Games through a third-party allotment for approximately KRW 240 billion, and (iii) the SPC's subscription for approximately KRW 60 billion in unregistered, unsecured, privately placed convertible bonds issued by Kakao Games. Following closing, the SPC became the largest shareholder of Kakao Games, holding approximately 33.43%, with Kakao remaining as the second-largest shareholder, holding approximately 14.68%.

The transaction involved the acquisition of Kakao Games, a KOSDAQ-listed company, through an SPC jointly invested in with a strategic investor, requiring prompt coordination with the strategic investor on investment terms. The deal was also highly complex in structure, combining the subscription of new shares and convertible bonds issued by a listed company, which required careful review of the related legal issues and their reflection in both the transaction structure and the transaction documents.

Lee & Ko represented the SPC as buyer and successfully carried out a wide range of work across the transaction, including legal due diligence, drafting, review, revision, and negotiation support for the share purchase agreement, new share subscription agreement, convertible bond subscription agreement, and the acquisition financing loan and security agreements, negotiation of terms relating to W&I insurance, business combination filings, and coordination with the exchange on disclosure matters relating to the listed company.
 

Lee & Ko advised HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co., Ltd., the intermediate holding company for the shipbuilding business of HD Hyundai Group, on its USD 1.55 billion overseas exchangeable bond offering. The bonds are exchangeable into common shares of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. held by HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, and the offering was successfully completed amid strong interest from global investors in Korea’s shipbuilding industry. The transaction attracted significant market attention as a large-scale overseas exchangeable bond offering involving shares of a key listed subsidiary of one of Korea’s leading shipbuilding groups.

Overseas exchangeable bond offerings require comprehensive review of various Korean law issues, including disclosure requirements relating to the exchange property, determination of the exchange price, exchange procedures, foreign exchange regulations and capital markets regulations. Lee & Ko provided comprehensive legal advice to the issuer throughout the transaction, including Korean law review of the offering structure, review of transaction documents and the offering circular, and advice on disclosure and governmental approval matters. Following its advice on LG Chem’s USD 2 billion overseas exchangeable bond offering in 2025, Lee & Ko once again demonstrated its strong expertise in overseas equity-linked bond offerings by Korean companies through its successful representation in this large-scale transaction.

Lee & Ko’s IP & Technology Practice Group, representing Eugene Tech, successfully invalidated the patents of Japan’s Kokusai Electric (“Kokusai”) in a patent dispute concerning atomic layer deposition (“ALD”) equipment used in semiconductor processing.

In February 2024, Kokusai filed four patent infringement lawsuits against Eugene Tech in the Seoul Central District Court. The technology at issue related to semiconductor process equipment, and Kokusai brought the infringement suits based on patents spanning various fields, including process operation methods and equipment configurations.

Lee & Ko’s IP & Technology Group responded to the infringement suits by asserting non-infringement while safeguarding Eugene Tech’s trade secrets, and at the same time sought to invalidate Kokusai’s patents by filing invalidation actions against all four patents.

With respect to the patent relating to nozzle arrangement among Kokusai’s patents, in December 2024, the Intellectual Property Trial and Appeal Board (“IPTAB”) held that all of the claims Kokusai had asserted for infringement were invalid. Although Kokusai filed a suit to revoke this decision, the IP High Court rendered a judgment in May 2026 upholding the IPTAB’s determination. In addition, with respect to a patent relating to semiconductor processing, although the IPTAB dismissed Eugene Tech’s petition for an invalidation action, in the correction action that Kokusai filed to amend the scope of its patent claims, it was determined that the invention described in the corrected claims lacked inventive step compared to the prior art, thereby succeeding in effectively neutralizing Kokusai’s patent.

Accordingly, Eugene Tech has effectively neutralized two of Kokusai’s four patents, and by mounting effective invalidity arguments against the remaining two patents as well, it is successfully responding to Kokusai’s infringement claims. As a result, Eugene Tech is now positioned to continue expanding its competitiveness and influence in the market as a promising equipment company in the rapidly advancing semiconductor industry.

Lee & Ko’s IP & Technology Practice Group has been successfully representing Samsung Heavy Industries and another entity in a patent infringement lawsuit filed by Canada’s Steelhead LNG against Samsung Heavy Industries and the entity before the Seoul Central District Court in connection with the Canadian FLNG project being carried out by Samsung Heavy Industries and Canada’s Cedar LNG, thereby contributing to the smooth execution of the project.

Cedar FLNG is a nearshore FLNG model that receives natural gas supplied from onshore facilities and is capable of liquefying, storing, and offloading the gas. It is an ultra-large offshore plant, with a hull area 2.5 times the size of a soccer field and a launch weight of approximately 50,000 tons. With respect to the FLNG vessel being constructed by Samsung Heavy Industries, In December 2024, Steelhead filed a patent infringement lawsuit alleging infringement of two patents and seeking, among other relief, an injunction halting construction.

Lee & Ko’s IP & Technology Practice Group defended against the infringement lawsuit by asserting non-infringement, while at the same time filing invalidation actions against Steelhead’s patents. Although Steelhead responded by amending its patent claims, Lee & Ko’s effective invalidity arguments were accepted, and the Intellectual Property Trial and Appeal Board (“IPTAB”) held both patents to be invalid in May 2026. The IPTAB found not only that both patents lacked an inventive step compared to the prior art, but also that the amendments made during the prosecution process constituted the addition of new matter, and therefore held that grounds for invalidity existed independent of the lack of inventive step.

As both patents were successfully held invalid by the IPTAB, the likelihood that Steelhead’s patent infringement lawsuit based on those patents will be dismissed has increased significantly. This is highly significant in that Samsung Heavy Industries is now able to carry out this massive project, with a total project cost of USD 4 billion, in a stable manner and without litigation risk.

Lee & Ko successfully represented NICE Credit Information ("NICE CI"), the Vietnamese entity of NICE Information Service, in obtaining a Credit Information License from the State Bank of Vietnam. This license is the 4th Credit Information License ever issued by the State Bank of Vietnam, and it carries particular significance as the first Credit Information License granted to a 100% Foreign Invested Enterprise. With this license, NICE CI has secured the legal basis to become the only foreign invested enterprise in Vietnam authorized to provide credit information services.

Following the filing of the license application around July 2025, the license approval was granted in an unusually short period of time. Since the filing, Lee & Ko Vietnam team has supported the licensing process on a range of practical matters, including analysis of Vietnam law, regulatory trends concerning the credit information business, and IT infrastructure requirements. Throughout the process, Lee & Ko Vietnam team maintained close communication with both the client and officials of the State Bank of Vietnam and responded promptly to the requests.

Vietnamese financial institutions have not yet developed credit information infrastructure or data based risk management systems comparable to those in Korea. NICE CI's successful entry into the Vietnamese market is expected to bring credit information services to the market based on objective data, such as early warning systems (EWS) and fraud detection systems (FDS). This is expected to help strengthen the risk management capabilities and infrastructure of the Vietnamese financial sector going forward.

The Lee & Ko Vietnam team previously advised IBK Industrial Bank of Korea on its application to establish a local subsidiary in Vietnam, as well as Korea Development Bank's Hanoi branch in obtaining its final license. Building on this track record, the Lee & Ko Vietnam team has now also successfully completed this matter for NICE Information Service, securing Vietnam's first Credit Information License granted to a foreign invested enterprise This further demonstrates Lee & Ko Vietnam team's practical expertise, local network, and ability to handle matters swiftly in support of Korean financial institutions expanding into the Vietnamese market.
 

Lee & Ko’s IP & Technology Practice Group represented VSI, the holder of a patent for an “ionization device,” and reversed a first-instance judgment that had ruled entirely against the client, on appeal in a patent infringement damages lawsuit. Lee & Ko obtained a decision recommending settlement from the IP High Court providing for the payment of damages, thereby securing recognition of the counterparty’s liability for damages, and further successfully enforced the damages claim to recover the client's losses.

The client had filed a damages lawsuit before the Seoul Central District Court, but the court dismissed the claim in its entirety on the ground that the statute of limitations had expired. Lee & Ko then took on the case at the appellate stage before the IP High Court and conducted the litigation.

With respect to the first-instance judgment, which held that the date of the preliminary injunction decision marked the commencement of the short-term statute of limitations, Lee & Ko argued that, given the inherent uncertainty of patent disputes, the injured party cannot be expected to recognize that damage has occurred until the invalidation and scope-of-rights confirmation proceedings have been finally resolved. Lee & Ko further argued that, although a preliminary injunction seeking to prohibit infringement differs in its substance from a damages claim, since both arise from the same underlying legal relationship—namely, the infringement of the patent—the exercise of rights through the preliminary injunction application also interrupts the statute of limitations for the damages claim, and that because this interruption continues for as long as the preliminary injunction remains in effect, the limitations period had not expired by the time the lawsuit was filed. Although the case presented an issue with no precedent, by carefully connecting the reasoning on the material scope of limitations interruption with the progress of the invalidation and scope-of-rights confirmation cases, Lee & Ko secured a determination from the IP High Court that the statute of limitations had not expired. The counterparty accepted the court’s determination and agreed to its recommendation for settlement.

As a result, the settlement decision on legitimate damages was finalized before the IP High Court, bringing the litigation to an early conclusion and successfully securing payment of the damages, so that the client successfully achieved the objectives of the litigation. This case is highly significant in that, in a situation where the client had been at risk of not having its legitimate claim recognized due to the expiration of the statute of limitations and even of having to bear the counterparty’s litigation costs, the client’s losses were recovered by presenting a refined counterargument that a preliminary injunction application also interrupts the statute of limitations for the related damages claim.

Douzone Bizon, one of Korea's largest software developers, is known for its ERP software as well as its mobile solutions, cybersecurity, and groupware services. The seller decided to transfer control of the company to a buyer capable of growing it into a global software developer.

The transaction combined a controlling stake sale with a voluntary delisting effected through a tender offer, presenting a number of intricate legal and structural challenges. Recent amendments to the Korean Commercial Code, which expanded directors’ fiduciary duties and strengthened protections for minority shareholders, required the transaction to carefully balance the interests of both controlling and minority shareholders. The involvement of multiple sellers with differing priorities also meant that the deal structure was the subject of extended discussion and was revised on several occasions

Throughout the process, Lee & Ko coordinated the interests of the sellers, proposed an efficient transaction structure, and led the drafting and negotiation of the transaction documents. Following receipt of the requisite government approvals earlier in the year, the transaction closed on March 26, 2026.