Mark M. Cho

  • Senior Foreign Attorney
  • T. +82-2-3404-0288
  • F. +82-2-3404-0803
  • E. mark.cho@bkl.co.kr

Overview

Mark M. Cho is a senior foreign attorney with over 26 years of international experience in complex domestic and cross-border M&A, private equity, foreign-direct and outbound investments, labor and employment, compliance and anti-corruption, occupational safety/serious accidents, and other areas at top major international law firms.

In the U.S., Mr. Cho worked in New York for major international law firms such as White & Case and Latham & Watkins, where specialized in domestic and cross-border M&A while assisting major private equity firms and investment banks such as H.I.G., Carlyle, Blackstone, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley.

In Korea, Mr. Cho worked extensively with both foreign and Korean clients, including top multinational private equity firms (Carlyle, MBK, Lone Star to name a few) and major Korean conglomerates (Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motors, POSCO, and DSME among others) on a variety of transactional and corporate matters (both inbound and outbound) relating to domestic and cross-border M&A and joint ventures.

Mr. Cho also has vast experience assisting clients with diverse and complex employment laws of multiple jurisdictions whether inbound into Korea or outbound into other jurisdictions. Mr. Cho's experience in employment and labor is well complemented by his in-depth experiences in corporate restructuring, compliance/anti-corruption, and corporate governance issues. As such, he is a certified international compliance and ethics professional (CCEP-I).

Mr. Cho also has ample experience on the business side, as general counsel and executive partner at a Hong Kong/Singapore-based private investment fund, having acquired, managed and made executive decisions for its international portfolio companies in various foreign jurisdictions, including the U.S., Mongolia, Russia, Argentina, Colombia, Switzerland, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Oman, Cayman Islands, among others.

Mr. Cho is fluent in English, Korean, Spanish and Portuguese and has extensive work experience in Latin America, including the establishment of Hyundai Motor's only automobile plant in Brazil/South America. While in Brazil, he advised Korean conglomerates as well as top US/global private equity firms and multinational companies with large-scale M&A projects/foreign direct-investments; and complex compliance matters, investigations, and crisis management arising from violations of anti-corruption laws.

Among his many other roles and areas of expertise as a key senior member of the Corporate/M&A Group, he has established and heads BKL's well-regarded Latin America Practice Group, the only such practice group among the top law firms in Korea.

Representative Experience

2020-Present Bae, Kim & Lee
2016-2018 Partner/Senior Foreign Counsel, Miguel Neto Advogados, Brazil
2013-2016 Partner/Senior Foreign Counsel, Tozzini Freire Advogados, Brazil
2010-2013 Executive Partner and General Counsel, Cordia Global, Hong Kong/Singapore
2005-2010 Senior Foreign Attorney, Kim & Chang
2003-2004 Foreign Attorney, Shin & Kim LLC
2000-2002 Corporate Associate, Latham & Watkins LLP, New York
1997-2000 Corporate Associate, White & Case LLP, New York

Representative Matters

Advised MBK, Lone Star, Carlyle and other top international private equity firms on their respective investments and acquisitions of several Korean companies relating to telecom, retail, insurance, shipping, gaming and other industries
Advised Kakao on the establishment of a joint venture company in China with Tencent relating to social media content
Advised a Turkish multinational company involved in the energy and oil-and-gas sector on its potential acquisition of a large steel mill factory in Korea
Advised a Chilean mining multinational company on a potential joint venture company with a leading Korean car-battery producer to build a lithium processing plant in Korea
Advised a private equity fund on the acquisitions of a large lithium mining company in Argentina and coal mining companies in Russia, Mongolia and Colombia
Advised MBK, Lone Star, Carlyle and other top international private equity firms on their respective investments and acquisitions of several Korean companies relating to telecom, retail, insurance, shipping, gaming and other industries
Advised Kakao on the establishment of a joint venture company in China with Tencent relating to social media content
Advised a Turkish multinational company involved in the energy and oil-and-gas sector on its potential acquisition of a large steel mill factory in Korea
Advised a Chilean mining multinational company on a potential joint venture company with a leading Korean car-battery producer to build a lithium processing plant in Korea
Advised a private equity fund on the acquisitions of a large lithium mining company in Argentina and coal mining companies in Russia, Mongolia and Colombia
Advised Hyundai Motor Company on its establishment of a $700 million automobile manufacturing plant in Brazil
Advised major Korean auto-parts manufacturers including Hyundai Mobis, Hyundai Dymos, Hyundai Hysco, Hwashin and MS-Autotech on their respective establishments of factories in Brazil
Advised Doosan Infracore on its worldwide acquisition of Ingresoll Rand's compact equipment business including Bobcat and other utilities businesses
Advised an Indian multinational company on the acquisition of a large auto-parts manufacturer in Brazil
Advised LG Display on the establishment of a joint venture company with a large manufacturer of televisions in China
Advised Daewoo Shipping and Marine Engineering (DSME) on a joint-venture project with the government of Oman in the shipbuilding sector
Advised Daewoo International (currently known as POSCO International) on oil-and-gas related acquisitions in Myanmar, Singapore and other South East Asian countries
Advised Samsung Electronics on the establishment of a large-scale joint venture with Toshiba in Japan

Education

1997 University of Virginia School of Law (J.D.)
1993 University of Virginia (B.A. in Economics and Spanish Literature; Phi Beta Kappa)

Qualifications

1999 New York

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