LIN NEWS
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LIN News[Best Law Firms in Korea] LIN continues rapid growthA fast growing law firm with lawyers from governmental offices and other law firms Lin is acknowledged as one of the fastest-growing law firms. According to Lin, founded in June 2017 by prominent lawyers from Kim & Chang and other major law firms in Korea, Lin has grown to 89 members (including 55 foreign and domestic lawyers), which is about five times the size it was when it first formed in 2017 (with 16 members). While there might be different views as to what constitutes rapid growth, it would be hard to ignore Lin's accomplishment during the last four years. Attorney Hyun Duck Hwang, who served as the deputy prosecutor general until February 2020 at Chuncheon District Prosecutor's Office before he joined Lin, is expected to provide a high-quality legal service in financial/securities/tax crime, corruption and labor cases. Attorney Hong Chul So and attorney Youn Huh, both who recently joined Lin, served as judges for more than 11 years respectively and are litigation experts. In addition, numerous other attorneys joined Lin this year; such as attorney Sung Yong Chae, a former Bae, Kim & Lee LLC lawyer whose practice area is in advising on domestic and cross-border M&As and has experience as an executive director of the investment division of an asset management company; attorney Won-Hwe Chung who was the general counsel of S&T Group and has experience in the defense industry, automotive parts industry, plants, and savings banking practices; attorney Jin Kee Jung who worked at various defense organizations and has experience in the defense industry; attorney Kee Jeong Kim who was an IP lawyer at Yulchon LLC; Australian solicitor Hee Seup Shin with experience in Standard Chartered Securities Korea, Macquarie Securities, and ING Securities as a in-house counsel; and US attorney Yoon Suh Lee who was a senior legal counsel at HSBC Seoul Branch and a legal director at The Bank of New York Mellon, Seoul Branch. Participant for two years in building the Big Data Industry According to the Managing Partner Jin Seok Lim, who was one of the founding members of LIN, Lin is the only law firm which has been involved in building the government-led Big Data Industry. Recent notable cases represented by Lin include arranging consensus for a dispute related to the fire accident in Icheon Logistics Warehouse by Lin's HR team, and the representation for taxi drivers from "Tada Premium" at the court to invalidate the expulsion decision made by the Seoul Private Taxi Transportation Business Association.2020.12.29
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News LetterLIN SUCCESSFULLY OVERTURNED THE FIRST TRIAL COURT DECISION IN KRW 50 BILLION ABCP INVESTMENT CASE, IN FAVOR OF HYUNDAI MOTOR SECURITIESLIN SUCCESSFULLY OVERTURNED THE FIRST TRIAL COURT DECISION IN KRW 50 BILLION ABCP INVESTMENT CASE, IN FAVOR OF HYUNDAI MOTOR SECURITIES LIN achieved a significant victory in the appeal court by overturning the initial trial court decision in the KRW 50 billion asset-backed commercial paper (the “ABCP”) case. The case involved Hyundai Motor Securities’ losses due to its investment in the ABCP, with foreign private placement bonds as the underlying assets. Hyundai Motor Securities filed a lawsuit against two Korean securities firms (the “Defendants”) that sponsored and organized the issuance of the ABCP. After the initial trial court dismissed the claim in its entirety, LIN joined as co-counsel of Hyundai Motor Securities for the appeal proceedings and successfully overturned the initial decision. The Appellate Court ruled in favor of Hyundai Motor Securities and held the Defendants liable for KRW 24.5 billion, representing 50% of the losses incurred. In 2018, the Defendants sponsored and organized the private issuance of ABCP totaling approximately KRW 160 billion. The ABCP were based on foreign currency bonds issued by CERCG Capital and guaranteed by its Chinese parent company CERCG. Hyundai Motor Securities was one of the institutional investors that purchased the ABCP in the amount of approximately KRW 50 billion. Unfortunately, just three days after the purchase, a corporate bond issued by another subsidiary of CERCG and guaranteed by CERCG defaulted on its payment. This default triggered the cross-default provision of the ABCP’s payment guarantee, ultimately leading to the ABCP being unable to be repaid on the due date. In light of these developments, Hyundai Motor Securities filed a claim for unjust enrichment and damages against the Defendants. The trial court initially ruled in favor of the Defendants, resulting in no damages awarded to Hyundai Motor Securities. Following this outcome, LIN joined as co-counsel and pursued the case with a focus on reinforcing fiduciary duty and investor protection legal principles. LIN placed particular emphasis on the sponsor’s obligation to exercise due diligence and conduct thorough investigations of the underlying assets, particularly considering that various circumstances indicated CERCG's poor financial condition prior to and at the time of the issuance of the ABCP. In doing so, LIN highlighted the trust relationship that exists between sponsors and investors in securitization transactions and argued that failure to fulfill these obligations constitutes a tort under civil law. Such neglect not only puts investors at risk but also undermines the integrity of the securitization process. The court concurred with our position and ordered the Defendants to pay KRW 24.5 billion, representing 50% of Hyundai Motor Securities’ losses resulting from their investment in the ABCP. This court ruling has established a fundamental principle that financial institutions or sponsors responsible for the structuring of asset-backed securities must ensure that investors are safeguarded through proper due diligence on underlying assets and accurate provision of information. This principle applies equally to private placement transactions involving professional investors, with the extent and nature of the sponsor’s duty of care dependent on the specific circumstances and substance of the transaction. Our Firm intends to contribute to the healthy development of the domestic capital market by establishing a fair and equitable legal doctrine for bona-fide institutional investors against sponsors or underwriters that fail to fulfill their obligation to protect investors by neglecting their due diligence responsibilities on the underlying assets. We believe that this ruling will help level the playing field for institutional investor plaintiffs, who often face a disadvantage when seeking to protect their rights and interests simply because they are deemed “professionals”. If you have any inquiries regarding case, please contact below: Hong Won LEE(hwlee@law-lin.com) Yoon Min RAH(ymrah@law-lin.com) Hyun Sang YOUN (US)(hsy@law-lin.com) Chosun.biz https://biz.chosun.com/topics/law_firm/2023/02/22/A32OHTJEINDSFBQ5F3ON2D5DQI/2023.03.08
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NoticeA Guide to Selling Offshore Funds in South KoreaA Guide to Selling Offshore Funds in South Korea I. Introduction In recent years, South Korean institutional investors have significantly increased their overseas investments as record-low interest rates and unfavorable market conditions at home have limited profitable investment opportunities in Korea. The National Pension Service, the country’s largest institutional investor, which currently manages more than 800 trillion won in assets, invested roughly 23 trillion won (approximately $20.4 billion) in overseas assets in 2020 alone, and it has announced a plan to further expand its overseas allocations over the next few years. Amid the growth of Korean overseas investments, global asset managers are increasingly finding Korea to be an attractive destination for finding new investors to whom they can market and sell their investment products. This article provides a brief guide to marketing and selling offshore funds in Korea. II. Offshore Fund Registration in Korea Under the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act of Korea (the “FSCMA”), all offshore funds marketed or sold to Korean residents must be registered with the Financial Supervisory Services of Korea (the “FSS”) in advance, and they must be marketed or sold through a locally licensed distributor, such as Korean banks and securities companies that are licensed to distribute fund products. Generally speaking, to register an offshore fund with the FSS, the fund and its asset manager must satisfy certain eligibility requirements, which vary depending on whether the fund is marketed to certain qualified professional investors only, or it is offered to general investors. Since most of the offshore funds sold in Korea are private funds marketed only to certain professional investors, the scope of this article is limited to the legal requirements applicable to the registration of such privately placed funds. The eligibility requirements for offshore private funds placed to qualified professional investors are as follows: The fund should have been established lawfully in accordance with the laws of its home country, and its constitutional documents should not contain any terms contrary to any Korean law or regulation, or the interests of Korean investors; The fees and expenses to be incurred by investors should be clearly stated in the fund documents; The fund manager should not have been subject to any suspension of business or major administrative sanctions, or to criminal fines or criminal penalties, by Korean regulators in the recent three years; The fund manager should have a track record with the management of similar funds (which can be shown by presenting audited financial statements proving the same); and The fund manager, trustee/custodian, distributor, and administrator of the fund should not have been subject to a suspension of business. Procedurally, the following steps are required to register all private funds. The applicant prepares a fund registration application and supporting documents, which include (among others) the offering documents of the fund and documents evidencing the satisfaction of the eligibility requirements discussed above. The applicant must then have a pre-filing consultation with an FSS officer and supplement the application package as requested by the officer. Once the FSS officer finds the application to be in order, the application is officially submitted to the FSS electronically. Because of the large volume of the applications, now it generally takes about four to five months for the registration to be completed. Once a fund is registered and becomes operational, the fund must comply with certain ongoing compliance requirements. These ongoing requirements include filing reports on fund sales to the FSS, keeping investors informed of the asset management performance and the base price of interests (i.e., NAV per share or unit), reporting changes in any registered information regarding the fund, and paying the annual registration tax. III. Asia Region Funds Passport On May 27, 2020, Korea implemented the Asia Region Funds Passport (the “ARFP”), which essentially allows funds registered as ARFP funds in any of the ARFP-member countries (i.e., Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, or Thailand) to be offered and sold in any other ARFP-member country through a simplified registration process. Thus, ARFP funds registered in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, or Thailand may be publicly offered in Korea through a fast-track registration process without an eligibility review. Please be informed, however, that regardless of whether or not a fund is ARFP-registered in its home country, any ARFP fund sold in Korea must still comply with all applicable Korean laws and regulations, including the obligation to sell such funds through a locally licensed distributor, and to satisfy all ongoing compliance requirements. IV. Conclusion While fund registration in Korea may seem like a procedurally straightforward process, it is extremely important that the application package be prepared properly and that consultations with FSS officers conclude smoothly, in order to ensure the timely administration and processing of a fund’s registration application. We have extensive experience in assisting with the registration of offshore funds in Korea, including consultations with regulatory authorities. We have represented TPG, Macquarie and other major international asset managers, and the types of funds we have successfully registered for clients include US limited partnerships, Luxembourg partnerships, Australian stapled trusts, exempted companies organized under the Cayman Islands law, and segregated portfolio companies in the Cayman Islands. Mr. Hyun Sang Youn who worked as a general counsel for global asset managers has deep business acumen and technical experience built over decades of experience, and based on our in-depth understanding of various overseas fund types and fund business, we ensure that the registration process runs smoothly, from document preparation to consultation with the regulatory authorities, and that our clients are able to get their registration completed timely and accurately. If you have any inquiries regarding fund registration in Korea, please contact below: Youn, Hyun Sang (hsy@law-lin.com) Han, Ye Jin (yjhan@law-lin.com)2021.11.10
[Law Firms to Watch 2021] LIN, 50% increase in the revenue last year
Starting to take a leap as a full-service law firm
LIN set its new year’s management goals to enhance its productivity and to achieve a dramatic increase of its credibility, as it became registered as a law firm that is subject to restricted employment of retired public officials for the first time this year, where only law firms with annual revenue of KRW 10 billion or more may be registered as the foregoing. Since it became categorized as a midsize law firm (with over 100 workers) which is now subject to restricted employment of retired public officials, LIN is setting the year of 2021 as its first year to take a leap as a full-service law firm.
LIN’s revenue amounted to approximately KRW 15 billion last year, which is 50% higher than its revenue of KRW 10 billion in 2019 and considered a very good performance amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, LIN’s rapid growth has already been confirmed in each of its individual cases.
LIN is representing Lime Asset Management in various civil and criminal cases arising out of the Lime incident and has been engaged in its liquidation procedure. LIN has also successfully led two corporations which were pending delisting from the stock exchange last year to continue trading and has been carrying out a Supreme Court case against a financial institution to recover under a claim of unjust enrichment the amount of which is approximately KRW 30 billion.
This year, LIN has selected the Tech Industry sector (noted by its synergy between the Tech Team led by Attorney Tae Eon Koo and the Intellectual Property Team formed by Attorney Yong Gap Kim), the Insolvency and Restructuring sector which has been recently formed, the financial industry sector, labor law sector, and the development of foreign clients to be the major areas of work expected to have a high performance this year.
The “M&A Expert,” Attorney Young Jae Shin to join soon
Along with the above, the sectors of particular note include the Defense Industry sector (where Attorney Su Cheol Noh who served as a former Director General of the Legal Affairs Management of the Ministry of National Defense joined at the end of last year), and the M&A Team (which include Attorney Young Jae Shin who has long served at large law firms, Attorney Sung Yong Chae from Bae, Kim & Lee LLC, Attorney Hark Hun Kim who worked as a partner for a long period of time at Lee & Ko, and Foreign Attorney Hyun Sang Youn). In addition, Attorney Hyo Jin Lee who recently joined LIN is specialized in immigration law. LIN also plans to set up its representative office in the United States.
Legal Times
https://www.legaltimes.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=58320
Fifty-five professionals in two (2) years
Fifty-five professionals in two (2) years
Fostered by a trusted partnership structure
where members have equal voting rights
LIN is recognized as an exemplary law firm in Korea as exhibited by its impressive growth since the firm’s establishment in June 2017. Since that time, LIN has attracted 55 professionals with 40 lawyers from notable law firms such as Kim & Chang, Yulchon, [Lee & Ko (including its managing partner) and Jin-Seok Lim] whom was a senior partner at Kim & Chang. LIN’s expansion in the number of its professionals has led to a corresponding growth in the quality of its major practice areas such as finance, regulatory, corporate, labor and employment, M&A, litigation, IP & IT and tax, among others, that its larger and established competitors may have monopolized in the past.
