Ri Bong Han

  • Managing Partner
  • T. +82-2-3404-0138
  • F. +82-2-3404-7308
  • E. ribong.han@bkl.co.kr

Overview

Ri Bong Han is a partner at Bae, Kim & Lee LLC. Since joining the firm in 1992, Mr. Han has been actively advising in the corporate, M&A and antitrust sectors; and has worked extensively with major domestic and international private equity funds, multinational corporations, financial services firms, and institutional investors with a broad range of general corporate and transactional matters, including inbound and outbound cross-border mergers and acquisitions, foreign-direct investments, private equity transactions, corporate governance, corporate restructurings, and major antitrust and fair trade related matters, among other areas of practice.

Throughout his 28 years of legal practice, Mr. Han has represented major domestic and multinational corporations such as Samsung Electronics, GS Caltex, Tesco, Kakao, and Continental AG; financial services firms and institutional investors such as Shinhan Financial Group, Hana Financial Group, Koram Bank, and Visa; and top domestic and foreign private equity funds such as KKR, Affinity Equity Partners, Cosair Capital, and SoftBank.

Mr. Han is perennially ranked as one of the top lawyers in Korea by major legal publications such as Chambers (both Asia-Pacific and Global), IFLR1000, Who's Who Legal, The Legal 500, Asia Business Law Journal, and Asian Legal Business, among others. Moreover, he has lead successfully in some of the landmark transactions in Korea considered “Deal of the Year” types for the Samsung Group companies relating to the sale of affiliates in the defense and petro-chemical industries, and Tesco's sale of Homeplus.

Mr. Han received his LL.B. from Seoul National University in 1987 and his LL.M. from Harvard Law School in 1997. He was admitted to the Korea and New York bars, and also worked as an international lawyer at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom in New York in 1997-98; and at Aoki, Christensen & Nomoto in Tokyo in 1998.

Representative Experience

1998 International Attorney, Aoki, Christensen & Nomoto, Tokyo
1997-1998 International Attorney, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, New York
1992-Present Bae, Kim & Lee LLC
1989-1992 Judge Advocate, Republic of Korea Air Force
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2016-2017 Legal Advisor, Ministry of Economy and Finance
2012-2018 Legal Advisor, Ministry of Environment
2005-2007 Director, International Affairs, Seoul Bar Association

Representative Matters

Advised Tesco on the sale of Homeplus
Advised Samsung Display in the sale of shares in Samsung Corning Precision Materials
Advised Affinity Equity Partners on its sale of shares in The Face Shop Korea
Advised Samsung Electronics on its sale of printer business
Advised Koram Bank in the tender offer by Citigroup
Advised Tesco on the sale of Homeplus
Advised Samsung Display in the sale of shares in Samsung Corning Precision Materials
Advised Affinity Equity Partners on its sale of shares in The Face Shop Korea
Advised Samsung Electronics on its sale of printer business
Advised Koram Bank in the tender offer by Citigroup
Advised Samsung Electro-Mechanics on its acquisition of Alphana Technology in Japan
Advised Samsung Group on the sale of its defense/petrochemical affiliates
Advised Asahi Glass on M&A and compliance issues in Korea
Advised Continental AG on its joint venture with SK Innovation
Advised Visa Inc. on Korean corporate and compliance issues
Advised GS Caltex in the sale of GS Power
Advised Interpark on sale of shares of Gmarket
Advised KKR/Affinity Equity Partners consortium in the acquisition of Oriental Brewery from Anheuser Busch InBev
Advised on Corsair Capital on the acquisition of Kyobo Life Insurance
Advised Shinhan Financial Group on the acquisition of LG Card
Advised ThyssenKrupp Elevator on its acquisition of Dongyang Elevator
Advised LG-Texaco consortium on its acquisition of Anyang-Buchon co-generation power plants and district heating facilities from KEPCO and Korea District Heating Corporation
Advised Samsung Electronics in its LCD panel joint venture with Sony Corporation
Advised Tesco on Homeplus joint venture with Samsung C&T (establishment of Samsung Tesco)
Advised Medison on sale of Kretztechnik AG to GE Medical Systems

Education

1997 Harvard Law School (LL.M.)
1989 Judicial Research and Training Institute, Supreme Court of Korea
1987 Seoul National University (LL.B.)

Selected Activities

Activity
Lecturer, Judicial Research and Training Institute, Supreme Court of Korea (2003-2012)
Awards
Chambers Asia-Pacific - Leading Lawyer (2016-2024)
Chambers Global - Leading Lawyer (2017-2022)
IFLR 1000 - Leading Lawyer (2017-2023)
Asialaw - Leading Lawyer (2013-2022)
Who's Who Legal - Leading Practitioner (2018-2023)
Asia Business Law Journal - Korea's Top 100 Lawyers (2021-2023)
ALB Korea Law Awards - Dealmaker of the Year (2015-2016)

Qualifications

1998 New York
1989 Korea

Awards and Recognition

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Awards and Recognition