Lee & Ko, Bae Kim & Lee and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett have advised on the launch of South Korea’s largest renewable energy platform by KKR and the SK Group, which is valued at KRW2 trillion (USD1.3 billion).
The platform consolidates renewable energy businesses and assets from SK Innovation, SK ecoplant and SK eternix, and will oversee a diversified portfolio spanning solar, offshore and onshore wind, and fuel cells, covering all major forms of renewable energy generation except hydrogen.
Lee & Ko represented SK on the launch of the platform, with partners Kyungchun Kim and Ji Hyeong Park leading the team.
“The Lee & Ko team advised on the entire transaction, from the initial review stage through contract execution to the present phase. The firm provided comprehensive counsel across all stages, including reviewing the initial transaction structure and associated legal issues, conducting legal due diligence, and advising on regulatory approvals. For the negotiation and contract drafting components, Lee & Ko worked jointly with Davis Polk,” Kim told Asia Business Law Journal.
Kim said the scale and strategic importance of the transaction stood out, particularly in the context of renewable energy development.
“Given the scale of the transaction, merger control filings are required both domestically and internationally. Lee & Ko is currently managing these filings through close collaboration between its M&A and competition/antitrust teams,” he said.
“This transaction is very important, as it consolidates the renewable energy operations previously distributed across various SK Group affiliates, pairing them with global investment capital to launch South Korea’s largest renewable energy enterprise. The newly formed entity will be positioned to address future energy demands.”
Bae Kim & Lee acted for KKR, with the team comprising partners Ho Kyung Chang, Jaeyong Jeong and Wonchul Nam, as well as senior foreign attorneys Daniel Joonwu Park and Eugene Hwang.
Simpson Thacher also advised KKR, with a team that included co-head of the firm’s Asia offices Ian Ho and partners Brian Chisling, Peter Bang, Makiko Harunari, head of the Asia banking and credit practice, Drew Purcell and Etienne Renaudeau. Additional support was provided by registered foreign lawyer Hyunmin Youm and associates Paul Kim, Min Park, Shareef Salfity, Dani Rabinowitz and Dimitrios Nikolaidis.
The renewable energy platform currently has around 1.7GW of operating capacity and a development pipeline expected to increase total capacity to 10GW, sufficient to power 100 large-scale, 100MW-class data centres simultaneously and continuously.
KKR will hold management control of the platform in its initial phase, while SK will participate as an equity investor and retain the option to pursue control rights in the future.
