Representing Japan’s Hitachi in the Korean merger filing for Hitachi’s acquisition of 80.1% of shares in Swiss-based ABB’s power grids arm, ABB Management Holding AG, Kim & Chang successfully assisted Hitachi to obtain unconditional clearance from the Korea Fair Trade Commission (the “KFTC”).  Through this deal, Hitachi reinforced its digital power solutions business and helped customers stay in tune with the electricity market reforms in Japan and other countries by offering high-voltage grid technology.  

Given the prominence of both Hitachi and ABB in the energy sector and the relevant product categories, this merger filing was reviewed from a number of different angles due to the importance of the parties’ respective technology holdings and their impact on the sector.  Specifically, the review required a firm understanding of the highly technical aspects of the relevant products, such as different grid automation products and software and high-voltage hardware for power generation.  Despite the complexity in technologies requiring very precise explanations to distinguish each component product, through our attorneys’ full understanding of the different aspects of the technology, we successfully argued the absence of overlaps in Korea for a significant portion of the product offerings by ABB and Hitachi.  By having a thorough understanding of the underlying technology and conveying such knowledge to the KFTC, we effectively conveyed the particulars of each product category being transferred from ABB to Hitachi and contributed to the successful result of this filing. 

Additionally, since the deal has market implications in multiple jurisdictions, we were expected to closely monitor the developments of other major jurisdictions and discuss them with our EU co-counsel to form and implement a global strategy consistent across all jurisdictions and promptly respond to requests provided by the KFTC.  Ultimately, we secured an approval for Hitachi from the KFTC, which found no competitive constraints in the deal.