On May 7, 2009, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P. (“KKR”) signed a share purchase agreement with Anheuser-Busch InBev ("AB InBev") to acquire Oriental Brewery Co., Ltd. ("OB Beer") in Korea for US$1.8 billion. This acquisition marks KKR’s first investment in Korea and ranks as one of the largest LBOs to date in this market by a private equity firm.
OB Beer is one of the only two domestic beer companies in Korea and is also a distributor of AB InBev's brands such as Budweiser and Hoegaarden in the Korean market.
The global team of STB attorneys working on this transaction include: Jin Hyuk Park, Patrick Naughton, Anthony Choi, Ian Ho, Frank Chen, Jason Jeong and Andrew Park (M&A/Corporate - Hong Kong); Herbert Huang and Erica Fung (Financing - Hong Kong); James Cross and Matt Einbinder (Financing - New York); Mark Stein and Jacob Mermelstein (Litigation - New York); Lori Lesser (Intellectual Property - New York); Mark Pflug, Sean Murphy and Peter Walgren (M&A/Corporate - New York); Sean Austin (Tax - Palo Alto); Keren Siman-Tov (Intellectual Property - Palo Alto); Bill Kearney (Competition - Washington D.C.); David Vann, Ellen Frye and Andrew Dempster (Competition - London); Antti Pesonen (Financing - London); and Marcela Robledo (Intellectual Property - London).