Lee & Ko provided legal advice in connection with Linde Group’s sale of its assets related to the industrial gas business in Korea pursuant to a remedial measure issued by the Korea Fair Trade Commission (the “KFTC”) regarding the business combination of Linde AG and Praxair, Inc. Linde Group spun off Linde Korea’s special industrial gas business, the portion of the business not subject to the KFTC’s remedial measure, as a new company with the intent to sell 100% of the shares of Linde Korea which will consist of the remaining industrial gas business.

IMM Private Equity, one of the leading private equity funds in Korea, entered into a share purchase agreement to purchase 100% of the shares of Linde Korea on March 7, 2019.

Although this was an extremely complex transaction involving sophisticated structural issues concerning the spin-off, anti-competition issues arising from the sale being consummated in connection with a KFTC remedial measure, regulatory issues arising from the purchaser being a special purpose company established by a private equity fund, and a range of other legal issues, Lee & Ko provided effective legal advice to IMM Private Equity through close cooperation with the client and providing timely solutions to the various legal issues, which led to the successful execution of the agreement.

[THE INVESTOR] Seoul-based IMM PE buys Linde Korea for W1.3tr