Shin & Kim acted as sole legal counsel for Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation (“KDIC”) in this transaction. 

During the 1997 financial crisis, KDIC undertook a large scale bailout of several banks, including Woori Bank.  Since 2010, KDIC has been attempting to recover the bailout through several attempts to sell Woori Bank of but due to strict regulation of the financial industry as well as the significance in deal size, KDIC’s attempts at privatization of Woori Bank proved unsuccessful.  In an attempt to structure the transaction in a palatable manner, KDIC proposed potential buyers to acquire between 4-8%, which would grant such potential buyer with the right to nominate an outside director.  Through this structure, KDIC was able to sell an aggregate of 29.78% to 7 buyers and Woori Bank is currently being operated under a board of directors composed of those appointed by such buyers.  This transaction had significance given that such structure was the first of its kind to be utilized in Korea.