2025.12.02
On March 31, 2025, Hahn & Co. Seventeenth Co., Ltd. (Hahn & Co.), South Korea's largest private equity fund management company, announced the acquisition of an 85% stake in SK Specialty from SK Corporation, for approximately KRW 2.6 trillion. Following JunHe's work in 2022 for Hahn & Co's successful acquisition of SKC's film business unit and completing the merger control filing in China, Hahn & Co. once again engaged JunHe as its Chinese legal counsel in this project. JunHe provided comprehensive and in-depth legal services for the acquisition of 100% equity in SK Specialty's three Chinese subsidiaries—SK New Materials (Jiangsu) Co., Ltd., SK New Materials (Xi'an) Co., Ltd., and SK New Materials (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (the 'Target Companies'), fully supporting Hanh & Co in successfully completing this cross-border merger and acquisition.
SK Specialty is a global leader in the field of special gases required for semiconductor and display panel manufacturing, and it has the largest global market share in key materials such as nitrogen trifluoride (NF3) and tungsten hexafluoride (WF6). This acquisition further strengthens Hahn & Co.'s investment portfolio in the high-end manufacturing sector, and creates a globally competitive 'hidden champion'.
Founded in 2010, Hahn & Co. is one of South Korea's largest private equity investment institutions. It manages assets exceeding tens of billions of dollars, with investments in key industries such as semiconductors, new materials, and high-end manufacturing. The acquisition of SK Specialty is an important strategic move in the high-end materials sector following its acquisition of SKC's film business and marks another successful collaboration with JunHe within three years.
In this project, JunHe served as Hahn & Co.'s Chinese legal counsel. JunHe was responsible for conducting legal due diligence on the three Chinese target companies, communicating with regulatory authorities, filing applications, and assisting with the closing. Given that the target companies belong to the special chemicals manufacturing industry, JunHe conducted a review of their compliance in areas such as environmental protection, occupational health, and safety production (EHS) regulations, including environmental approvals and acceptances, emission permits, hazardous chemicals management, safety production licenses and emergency plans, and assisted the client in fully understanding the EHS risks in operations.
The complexities and challenges of this project include: (1) The acquisition involved numerous countries and regions with a large transaction amount, requiring assistance in resolving various historical issues related to the target business; (2) The legal issues were complex and diverse, requiring coordination between different jurisdictions, consideration of the regulatory requirements in South Korea and the information disclosure requirements in China, antitrust filings, and other factors. JunHe leveraged its teamwork and professional advantages to provide legal support according to the project's progress, ensuring the smooth advancement of the transaction; (3) With a very tight overall schedule, JunHe assisted the client in controlling the project timeline and coordinating communication among all parties, ensuring its successful completion.
JunHe provides professional, pragmatic and highly effective legal services to its clients. This successful collaboration with Hahn & Co. is a recognition of JunHe's long-standing excellence in service quality and consolidates JunHe's leading position as a specialist in Korean investment in China as well as high-end manufacturing mergers and acquisitions. JunHe leverages its outstanding cross-border project execution capabilities to provide high-quality legal support to domestic and international clients.
The lead partners for this project were Mr. JIN, Xinghui, Mr. ZHOU, Feng (Frank) , and Ms. NI, Tianling (Carey Nee). JunHe lawyers Mr. HAN, Wenji and Ms. KOU, Chunyan served as key handling lawyers.
