On November 18, 2016, Doosan Bobcat undertook its initial public offering (the “IPO”) of 30,028,180 shares held by its existing shareholders at the price of KRW 30,000 per share on the Korea Exchange.  The IPO was valued at over KRW 900 billion.

First-of-its-Kind IPO

In 2002, the Korea Exchange adopted new IPO regulations for the listing of a Korean company, whose main business is to control a foreign company it owns through shareholding.  The regulations refer to such a Korean company as “foreign company-controlled holding company.”¹

This Doosan Bobcat IPO transaction is significant, because it is the first-of-its-kind case in Korea for a “foreign company-controlled holding company” to undertake its IPO both in and out of Korea at the same time.

Kim & Chang acted as Doosan Bobcat’s legal advisor.  Our team advised on various Korean legal issues relevant to the IPO and listing of its shares, including: (i) reviewing various agreements needed for the public offering and listing processes; (ii) streamlining company’s regulatory compliance system necessary for a listed company; (iii) handling special securities depository procedures; (iv) reviewing issues relating to granting employee stock options; and (v) conducting due diligence.

In particular, we successfully advised on complicated offshore listing procedures and disclosure issues by collaborating with overseas advisors, as the transaction involved the first ever concurrent listing of a “foreign company-controlled holding company” in and out of Korea.