이 기사는 2021년 12월 14일 08:04 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

Mirae Asset Global Investments won a lawsuit against China's Anbang Insurance Group over its cancelation of a $5.8 billion deal to buy 15 hotels in the U.S.

The Delaware Supreme Court upheld the state's Chancery Court decision made in January 2021, which ruled in favor of Mirae Asset that the Chinese company was in breach of contract, industry sources said on Friday.

The legal battle began in April 2020 when Anbang filed the lawsuit against the South Korean financial group, arguing that Mirae Asset failed to perform obligations agreed to under the deal without justifiable reason and asked the court to force the purchase of the hotels.

In May 2020, Mirae Asset countersued Anbang, arguing that the Chinese company is to blame for the collapsed deal as it failed to meet some necessary conditions to complete the transaction. It alleged that Anbang intentionally hid issues regarding ownership of the hotels which resulted in problems with the issuance of title insurance.

The Delaware Chancery Court ruled in the first trial on November 30, 2020 that Mirae Asset’s decision to terminate the deal for the purchase of the U.S. properties from Anbang was proper in that Anbang had failed to meet contractual conditions.

The court ordered Anbang to return the $572 million deposit Mirae Asset paid to Anbang along with accrued interest. It also ruled that Mirae Asset was entitled to court costs, including its attorneys’ fees and expenses.

In March 2021, Anbang appealed to the higher court following the court decision favoring Mirae Asset over a failed hotels deal.

Mirae Asset’s legal counsels, including Peter & Kim, paid attention to the fact that the second trial is basically a review by the upper court of what happened in the court below to determine whether any mistakes occurred.

Each side had 25 minutes to argue its case before a five-justice panel of the court. The panel reached a unanimous decision for the Mirae Asset and Anbang case.

Mirae Asset hired Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and Peter & Kim. It also received advice from Korea's Yulchon and U.S.-based Greenberg Traurig, which served as advisers for Mirae Asset during negotiations on the hotel deal. Anbang worked with Gibson Dunn and Kim & Chang for the trial. (Reporting by Hee-yeon Han)