Seonho Kim

Seonho Kim is one of the prominent partners of the firm’s Corporate/M&A group, M&A, foreign investment and antitrust practices as one of the partners of KL Partners advising various corporate clients and is advising clients in labor and compliance matters as well.

Mr. Kim has handled various buy-out transactions, consolidation of public companies, cross-border investments, joint ventures and antitrust disputes during his professional career. Mr. Kim was reported by the Korea Economic Daily as promising young lawyer in the buy-out M&A field, based on its totaling of the buy-out transactions closed in 2015. Mr. Kim ranked first in the number of transactions for closing six buy-outs and ranked second in the deal amount for closing transactions.

WORK EXPERIENCE

• KL Partners Partner | 2019 - present
• SEUM Law Office Partner | 2015 - 2018
• Bae, Kim & Lee Attorney | 2009 - 2015
• Korean Army Judge Advocate | 2006 - 2009
• Supreme Court of the Republic of Korea Judicial Research and Training Institute | 2006

RECENT ENGAGEMENTS

• Representation of ShowBox (the leading cinema distributor in Korea, KOSPI listed company) in connection of the investment in ShowBox (April 2022)
• Represented GS Construction and Xi S&D in connection with their share acquisitions of S&I Construction (February 2022)
• Represented SK Telecom in its equity issuance of T Map Mobility Co., Ltd. to private equity investors (May 2021)
• Represented KH Investment in connection with its acquisition of the stakes in STX Offshore & Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. (July 2021)
• Represented Medici Investment in connection with its acquisition of the minority shares in Hancom (May 2021)
• Represented “S” group in its acquisition of a company under the rehabilitation process through “stalking horse” bid
• Represented “L Capital” fund in its minority investment in a medical artificial intelligence company
• Represented “L Capital” fund in its minority investment in a cloud management service company
• Represented “L Capital” fund in its minority investment in an entertainment management company
• Represented “I” hospital group in its joint venture transaction with a Chinese conglomerate
• Represented Headland Capital Partners (former HSBC Asia Private Equity) in its acquisition of Young Toys (October 2012) and the sale of Young Toys to PAG Asia Private Equity (June 2015)
• Represented Visteon in its sale of Halla Visteon Climate Control Corp to Hahn & Co and Hankook Tire (June 2015, co-counsel with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom)
• Advised SK C&C on its merger with SK Holdings (June 2015)
• Represented SeAH Besteel Corp. in its acquisition of POSCO Integrated Special Steel (currently SeAH Changwon Integrated Special Steel) (April 2015)
• Represented Green Cross Holdings in its acquisition of shares in Ildong Pharmaceutical (April 2015)
• Represented Suning Universal Group, a Chinese conglomerate, in its acquisition of Redrover, a Korean listed animation contents provider (June 2015)
• Advised SK Global Chemical on its joint venture with SABIC (June 2015)
• Represented “B” resort group, a Philippines conglomerate, in its acquisition a hotel located in Jeju island with active operation of casino (April 2015)
• Advised Dongkuk Steel on its merger with Union Steel (January 2015)
• Represented KAKAO in its merger with Daum (October 2014)
• Represented Samsung SDI in its merger with Cheil Industry (July 2014)
• Advised KEPCO on its joint venture with Alstom and acquisition of High Voltage Direct Current technology (January 2013)
• Represented Mason Capital Corporation and Leed Capital Corporation in connection with the acquisition of 100% shares of Daol Credit (2023)
• Represented Onelake Next 2022 PEF in connection with the acquisition of 17.6% shares of Nexplus prior to its IPO (2023)
• Represented AJU IB Investment in connection with the acquisition of shares of Dreammark One (2023)

EDUCATION

• Seoul National University, School of Law | LL.B., 2004

ADMISSIONS

• Korea | 2006

LANGUAGES

• English
• Korean