Lee & Ko advised KB-Glenwood Private Equity Fund (whose general partners are KB Investment & Securities Co., Ltd. and Glenwood Investments) in connection with the acquisition of 92.6% of the newly issued shares of Powernet Technologies Corporation. The investment agreement was executed on December 16, 2009. The new shares were issued and the transaction closed on December 23, 2009 with a value of KRW 77 billion.
Although there have been cases where a private equity fund acquired a company that was in the process of work-out, this transaction marks the first time that a private equity fund acquired control of a company engaged in corporate reorganization. Because this deal had to proceed within the framework of the reorganization process, it was more complex than typical M&A deals where a private equity fund acquires the control of an ordinary company. In addition to handling typical due diligence and negotiation, the deal involved obtaining court approvals.