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Lee & Ko received the Litigation and Arbitration Award (Nullification of Korea Exchange’s Delisting) and the Advisory Award (Advising Korean Air’s acquisition of Asiana Air) at the ‘4th Korea Legal Awards 2021’.
Lee & Ko’s Litigation and Arbitration Practice Group received the Litigation and Arbitration Award for being the first in Korea to obtain the Supreme Court’s decision to nullify the delisting decision made by Korea Exchange (“KRX”).
Gamma Nu, Inc. (“Gamma Nu”), a telecommunications equipment manufacturer listed on KOSDAQ, received an audit report of refusal of opinion from an external auditor regarding the financial statements and consolidated financial statements. Accordingly, KRX provided Gamma Nu with a specified period to make improvements and when Gamma Nu failed to implement such improvements within the prescribed time period, KRX decided to delist the shares issued by Gamma Nu without providing any additional opportunities for improvements. As counsel for Gamma Nu, Lee & Ko obtained a provisional injunction to suspend the effectiveness of the delisting decision as per Gamma Nu’s request, and Lee & Ko proceeded to file a lawsuit against KRX and ultimately, the Supreme Court rendered a decision in favor of Gamma Nu.
In addition, Lee & Ko’s M&A Group received the Advisory Award for its advisory role in representing Korea Development Bank (“KDB”) on a series of transactions leading to the acquisition and integration of Asiana Airlines by Hanjin KAL, a holding company of Hanjin Group, and Korea Air.
This deal involved KDB injecting approximately KRW 800 billion into Hanjin KAL as the acquisition price of new shares and exchangeable bonds, and this transaction successfully utilized the ‘positive functions of the capital market’ to its fullest extent aided by the market’s trust in the certainty of acquisition and integration of Asiana Air by KAL, and its resulting synergy, which enabled the procurement of roughly KRW 2.5 trillion in funding.