Business Succession · M&A · Transaction Advisory · Seoul

Connecting Owners,
Successors
& Capital

We advise Korean business owners on succession — and structure the transactions and capital that carry it through. From the first assessment to closing, and the years that follow.

Our Advisory Target Profile
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The Market

Korea's Succession Wave

Tens of thousands of Korean SMEs are approaching a critical inflection point. Their founders are retiring — but most have no succession plan, qualified/willing heir, or clear path to a clean exit.


This is not a distressed-asset story. These are profitable, asset-backed businesses with decades of operating history. The problem is not the company. The problem is the transition.


NexBridge Alpha exists to solve exactly that. We advise owners on how a succession can actually be done — and then structure the transaction and the capital that carry it through, so that what took decades to build is not lost in the handover.

36.8%
Of Korean manufacturing SME owners are aged 60 or over — up from 15.9% a decade earlier
83%
Of the 56,000 Korean manufacturers with no identified successor are outside the Seoul metropolitan area
600,000
Japanese companies that were profitable yet had no successor — of 1.27 million owners past retirement age. Tokyo put 6.5 million jobs and ¥22tn of output at risk. Korea is roughly a decade behind on the same curve

Sources: Korea SMEs & Startups Institute (2023); Ministry of SMEs and Startups (2025); Japan METI. Korea keeps no official count of profitable companies that simply close — the figures above are the nearest available measures.

What We Do

Our Advisory

01
Assess
Succession Advisory
Every engagement begins with a paid assessment, not a pitch. We examine the ownership structure, the tax exposure on inheritance and gift, the statutory reserve and family claims, the eligibility for succession relief, and the risks that surface only when an owner steps back. The owner receives a clear reading of where the company stands — whether or not anything follows.
02
Structure
Transactions & Capital
Where a transaction is the answer, we design it: control transfers, MBOs, minority and second-shareholder structures, third-party sales. We build the deal architecture — corporate, tax and financing — and bring the capital, drawing on institutional investors, sponsors, strategic co-investors and acquisition finance. Legal execution sits inside the team, not outside it.
03
Sustain
Transition & Value Creation
A signature is not a succession. We work through the handover itself — continuity of employment and customer relationships, retention of the know-how that lives in people rather than documents, and AI-enabled operational transformation (AX) where it earns its keep. The measure is whether the company is still standing, and stronger, years later.
Targets

Target Profile

  • Revenue Range ₩3B – ₩30B
  • Profitability Established, cash-generative
  • Owner Profile Succession-driven, no identified successor
  • Sector Focus Manufacturing, industrial, B2B services
  • Geography South Korea (nationwide)
  • Holding Horizon Long-term; continuity over quick resale

Execution Paths

  • Control acquisition — with owner rollover and a continuing advisory role
  • Management buy-out — backing the team already inside the company
  • Second shareholder — a minority position that stabilises the transition
  • Strategic sale — where a trade buyer is the right home for the business

Korea's succession gap produces a class of target company that is uncommon elsewhere: decades of operating history, durable cash flows, conservative balance sheets — and an owner whose reason for a transaction is demographic rather than distress. These are not auctioned assets. They are found, and they are earned.


Our target deals are sourced directly — through owners, their advisers, and the professional networks that have taken years to build — not through brokered processes. Each is structured deal by deal, alongside institutional investors, sponsors and strategic co-investors who share a long view.

Review Target Deals

Target deal introductions and co-investment discussions on request, subject to confidentiality.

Why NexBridge Alpha

The Edge

Law at the Core
We are lawyers first. Ownership structure, tax exposure, regulatory compliance and clean title are addressed from the first conversation — not handed to outside counsel once the deal is already shaped.
Institutional Mandates
Advisory work for Korea's public and institutional investors — among them the National Pension Service, KEPCO, KORAIL and KAMCO — alongside appointments as a bankruptcy trustee at the Seoul Rehabilitation Court. The standards that govern institutional capital are the standards we bring to private deals.
Capital Access
Working relationships with institutional investors, private equity sponsors, strategic acquirers and lenders across Korea, Asia-Pacific, Europe and the US. We match each transaction to the right capital — not the nearest available.
Single Point of Execution
From the first assessment to closing and beyond, one partner carries the file. No handoffs between advisory, legal and capital formation. Confidentiality is easier to keep when fewer hands touch the deal.
The Firm

The Team

Sung-Soo Choi, Managing Partner
Sung-Soo Choi 최성수
Managing Partner
Attorney at Law (Korea) Kim & Chang Alumnus MBA, IE Business School

Sung-Soo is a corporate lawyer with 24 years in private equity, M&A, and cross-border transactions. He built his PE and M&A practice as a senior attorney at Kim & Chang — Korea's preeminent law firm — before serving as managing partner at TY&Partners (Hyehwa) for over a decade.

His work bridges private capital and the public sector, spanning advisory mandates for the National Pension Service, KEPCO, KORAIL, and KAMCO, alongside appointments as a bankruptcy trustee at the Seoul Rehabilitation Court and an international-procurement commissioner at DAPA.

He has contributed to the World Bank's Doing Business in Korea (2012–2015) and written on Korea's private equity industry for IFLR. Paired with an International MBA from IE Business School, this blend of legal depth, institutional trust, and capital-market fluency positions NexBridge Alpha to navigate succession deals that demand both local regulatory command and global execution.

sungsoo.choi@nb-alpha.com +82-2-6930-5864 15F, 373 Gangnam-daero, Seocho-gu, Seoul 06621
Donghoon Yi, Senior Advisor
Donghoon Yi 이동훈
Senior Advisor
Foreign Attorney (New York) Cleary Gottlieb — Alumnus Kim & Chang Alumnus

Donghoon has spent more than 25 years working alongside founders, business leaders, and investors across Asia-Pacific, helping companies navigate growth, acquisitions, strategic investments, and complex business challenges. His experience spans global law firms, advising private equity and sovereign wealth investors on cross-border transactions, and serving as Group Head of Legal and General Counsel at a venture-backed technology company through rapid regional expansion, fundraising, and a transformative merger.

He brings a long-term, hands-on approach to partnering with business owners seeking a thoughtful succession solution and with investors looking to back the acquisition and enduring growth of exceptional companies built on strong relationships, operational excellence, and trust.

dyi@nb-alpha.com +82-2-6930-5864 15F, 373 Gangnam-daero, Seocho-gu, Seoul 06621
Get in Touch

Let's Talk

Every succession begins as a private conversation.

Whether you are an owner thinking about what comes next, an adviser with a client who is, or an investor evaluating Korean succession transactions — we are glad to talk. Nothing said to us leaves this office.

E sungsoo.choi@nb-alpha.com
T +82-2-6930-5864
A 15F, 373 Gangnam-daero, Seocho-gu
Seoul 06621, South Korea
Owners & Their Advisers
A confidential first conversation
No commitment, no process, no name on any list. We will tell you what a succession would actually involve for your company — and, just as often, that now is not the time.
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Capital Partners
Target deals and co-investment
Tell us your mandate — sector, cheque size, control preference, horizon — and we will tell you honestly whether our target deals fit it.
Write to us →

Please do not send confidential or non-public information by email before we have agreed how it will be handled.