Kim & Chang hidden beneficiary of Anbang's lawsuit

Kim & Chang's office in Seoul / Korea Times photo by Wang Tae-seok

By Park Jae-hyuk

Kim & Chang has come under the spotlight ahead of the first hearing at the Delaware Chancery Court for the lawsuit between Mirae Asset Global Investments and Anbang Insurance Group over a disrupted $5.8 billion deal for 15 luxury hotels in the United States.

According to industry officials, Thursday, the largest law firm in Korea is representing the Chinese insurer, which is urging the Korean investment company to take over the hotels as it had agreed to in September 2019.

Anbang has regarded Mirae Asset's attempt to nullify the contract as a typical case of “buyer's remorse” amid the pandemic that has dealt a severe blow to the lodging industry worldwide.

Mirae Asset has claimed Anbang should cancel the contract and return the $580 million deposit claiming the seller had failed to guarantee its ownership of the properties without securing title insurance for them.

Unsurprisingly, both sides hired legal representation by elite law firms.

Mirae Asset hired international arbitration specialist Peter & Kim here and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan in the U.S. The Korean financial firm has also received legal advice from Korea's Yulchon and the U.S.-based Greenberg Traurig.

As for Anbang, reports focused on the Los Angeles-headquartered Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher which also offered legal advice to the Chinese insurer when it had signed the contract on the hotels with Mirae Asset.

However, Kim & Chang was also one of the top representatives of Anbang in this massive litigation process.

Sources familiar with the situation and reports said Kim & Chang lawyers here have talked with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher lawyers in the U.S. through teleconferences, because cross-border travel has been virtually impossible after the spread of the coronavirus.

This is not the first time Kim & Chang has worked with Anbang for big deals.

When the Chinese firm took over Allianz Life Insurance Korea in April 2016, the law firm offered legal advice for the M&A and helped its client wins the approval from the Korean government.

When Anbang Life Insurance acquired Tong Yang Life from Vogo Investment in February 2015, Kim & Chang also drafted the contract for the deal and provided the Chinese firm with various legal services including due diligence, negotiation, applying to the Fair Trade Commission for the merger and to the Financial Services Commission for changing the largest shareholder.

As a result, Kim & Chang enabled Anbang to get approval from the Korean government for its ownership of the two life insurance companies.

The Delaware Chancery Court set the trial date for August 24.

Although the amount of legal fee Kim & Chang received from Anbang is unknown, there is no doubt that the Korean law firm has already made lucrative profits regardless of the result of the lawsuit, according to sources.