Allen Ryu is a senior foreign attorney in the Corporate and M&A Practice Groups, with expertise in mergers and acquisitions, foreign direct investment, corporate governance and private equity issues. Allen advises a wide range of clients, including private companies and private equity and venture capital firms, in connection with all forms of transactions including buyouts, joint ventures, carve-outs, minority investments, pre-IPO financings, restructurings and spin-offs, as well as general corporate counseling. He also advises clients regularly on CFIUS and other foreign investment reviews. Allen focuses on technology companies across various sectors, including automotive and mobility, TMT, energy, fintech, software, aviation, online game and entertainment industries. Allen’s representative transactions include some of the most complex and largest transactions involving Korean buyers or sellers. Prior to joining Lee & Ko, Allen was a senior foreign counsel at a leading Korean law firm.
Representative Cases
- SK Square Co., Ltd. and SK Telecom Innovation Fund, L.P. in their combined $250 million pending sale of their controlling interest in id Quantique SA to IonQ, Inc.
- Bear Robotics, Inc. in Bear Robotics Korea Inc.’s $133 million pending acquisition of the robot business conducted by LG Electronics Inc.’s Robots Business Division
- Macquarie Capital, in its sale of equity interest in KJ Environment to EQT
- eBay in its US$3 billion sale of eBay Korea
- Hyundai Motor Group in its US$1.1 billion acquisition of majority stake in Boston Dynamics
- Hyundai Motor Group in its US$4 billion autonomous driving joint venture transaction with Aptiv
- Centroid Investment Partners in its $1.71 billion acquisition of TaylorMade Golf and investment into Concert Golf Partners
- IMM Private Equity in its KRW 1.1 trillion acquisition of minority stake in SK Lubricants
- Wemade in its issuance of convertible bonds to Microsoft, Shinhan Asset Management and Kiwoom Securities
- SK hynix in its US$9 billion acquisition of Intel’s NAND memory and storage business
- Samsung C&T in its minority investment in NuScale Power and follow-up PIPE investment
- Anchor Equity Partners in several matters, including its KRW 1.1 trillion sale of Geo Young Corporation, KRW 875 billion sale of ESG and ESG Cheongwon, KRW 550 billion sale of Kyungnam Energy, co-investment in E-land World and acquisition of majority stake in A Twosome Place
- ST International (formerly Samtan) and Shinhan Alternative Investment Management consortium in its KRW 190 billion acquisition of Yeongyang and Youngduk onshore wind projects
- KPX Chemical in its carve-out acquisition of the polyurethane business of Huntsman Corporation
- Doosan Corporation in several matters, including in its KRW 700 million sale of majority stake in Doosan Solus and acquisition of assets of HyAxiom (formerly ClearEdge Power) in Section 363 bankruptcy sale
- Doosan Enerbility (formerly Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction) in several matters, including its minority investment in X-energy, minority investment in NuScale Power, acquisition of ACT Independent Turbo Service, acquisition of Doosan Gridtech (formerly 1Energy Systems), and sale of Romanian subsidiary Doosan IMGB
- DL E&C in its minority investment in X-energy
- AB InBev in its US$5.8 billion acquisition of Oriental Brewery
- Daehan Steel in its acquisition of minority stake in Angkasa Amsteel
- Pearl Abyss in its US$425 million acquisition of CCP Games
- CJ CGV in its EUR 605 million acquisition of Mars Entertainment
- CJ Logistics in its acquisition of majority stake in Ibrakom
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Education
2011 |
Emory University School of Law - J.D. |
2007 |
Handong University - B.A. in Business Management and Law (Double Major) |
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Work Experience
2024-Present |
Lee & Ko |
2012-2024 |
Kim & Chang |
2011-2012 |
Ball, Ball, Matthews & Novak |
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Admissions & Qualifications
2014 |
Admitted to bar, New York |
2011 |
Admitted to bar, Alabama |
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Publications / Presentations / ETC
- Chambers Global Practice Guides - Joint Ventures 2024 Korea Chapter
- Chambers Global Practice Guides - Investing In... 2021 Korea Chapter
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