Longstanding client relations pay off, especially those with highly active clients.
Both Orrick and Freshfields are advising longstanding clients in China Unicom’s US$1.3bn share buyback from South Korean telco, SK Telecom. Freshfields Hong Kong partner Teresa Ko and Orrick’s David Cho are advising China Unicom and SK Telecom respectively, having both previously worked on deals for the two telcos as far back as 2002.
Ko, who has advised China Unicom on all its major transactions since 2000, said the transaction is rare and had to be done within a short time frame. “Off-market share repurchases are relatively uncommon and this may well be the first off-market share repurchase transaction by a state-owned listed red chip company,” she said.
Both SK and China Unicom have kept their external counsel busy over the years. Cho, having previously advised SK on a US$1bn share offering, was assisted on this deal by a team of lawyers from the firm’s Korea and China practices. In September, Ko advised China Unicom on its US$1bn alliance with Spain’s Telefónica.
“SK Telecom was brought in by China Unicom as a strategic investor so that they could co-operate and further develop the CDMA business, which was subsequently sold to China Telecom in 2008. So it’s quite natural that SK Telecom would consider exiting China Unicom,” said Ko.
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