Bio

Wonkyu Han started his career as an attorney at Lee & Ko in 1987. Since 1997, he has served as the head of the firm's Capital Markets Group and has been recognized for making it a leading team in Korea in its practice area. He has been recognized by his clients as an attorney with superior ability to pinpoint their needs especially in the areas of equity capital, debt capital, financial derivatives and private equity and to address those needs with effective solutions. In the area of mergers and acquisitions, he has received much acclaim for successfully completing deals, much to the satisfaction of his clients. Mr. Han has been advising his corporate clients in their startup of new businesses regarding legal matters in many areas of business ranging from general management to financing. In addition, he has provided exceptional legal advisory service to sponsor investors and financial investors involved in areas of joint business promotion and management. Mr. Han was a legal advisor in a number of landmark cases including the establishment of the very first Korea Venture Fund comprised of foreign investors and of the first overseas private equity fund in which Korean government agencies participated, the first issuance of synthetic exchangeable bonds in Korea and of hybrid tier 1 bonds by a Korean financial institution, the first listing of a foreign corporation on the KOSPI Market Division of the Korea Exchange, the first issuance of Korea Depositary Receipts by a foreign corporation, and the very first sale of call-spread stock in Korea. He is also recognized for taking a leading role in assisting domestic companies in compliance with new standards in relations to the overseas issuance of convertible bonds and bonds with warrants. Mr. Han has also represented Citibank in its acquisition of Koram Bank, providing legal advice in every step of the entire operation. He has also represented Shinhan Finance Group in its acquisition of Good Morning Securities Co., Ltd. (currently, Shinhan Investment Corp.), and Hana Bank in its acquisition of Seoul Bank. He has also represented KB Asset Management on one of its fund's joint investment in GS Power with GS Energy.