King & Wood Mallesons advises LG Chem on its sale of polarizer business to Ningbo Shanshan

On 1 February 2021, LG Chem, Ltd. ("LG Chem") completed the first-stage completion of its sale of LCD polarizer business in Mainland China, the Taiwan Region, and the Republic of Korea to Ningbo Shanshan Co., Ltd. ("Ningbo Shanshan"). Ningbo Shanshan acquired 70% shares of a newly-incorporated joint venture by LG Chem in China for USD 770 million through capital increase. Ningbo Shanshan will, through the aforementioned joint venture and its subsidiaries, purchase LG Chem's LCD polarizer business and relevant assets in Mainland China, the Taiwan Region, and the Republic of Korea in several stages. The total consideration for the target assets is USD 1.1 billion, which will be paid to LG Chem and its affiliates in instalments. The deal, a major transaction in 2020 involving an overseas enterprise selling high-end polarizer business to a Chinese enterprise, has received extensive attention from the international market.

LG Chem is a world-leading polarizer manufacturer and distributor with a top-ranking global market share. Ningbo Shanshan is a domestic enterprise specializing in the R&D, manufacture, and sale of lithium battery materials, whose products include cathode materials, anode materials, and electrolyte. On 8 June 2020, LG Chem and Ningbo Shanshan signed relevant transaction documents.

In this project, King & Wood Mallesons ("KWM"), acting as the lead counsel for LG Chem, advised the client on matters including M&A, securities, and anti-monopoly review, and coordinated with law firms from different jurisdictions to provide legal services for LG Chem, which fully demonstrated the expertise, extensiveness, and excellence of its services, as well as its strong market competitiveness in cross-border M&A.

The KWM team provided seamless services for the client. The M&A part in this project was co-led by partners Morgan JIANG and Seokho LEE. Partners Zhifeng CHAI (Anti-Monopoly), Ningyuan WANG(Securities), Molly SU (Financing), Bill YE and Jessie YU (Tax), and senior counsel Mark FU (Intellectual Property) also made contributions to this project.