Latham & Watkins Advises Hyundai Motor Group on US$4 Billion Autonomous Driving Joint Venture with Aptiv
Aptiv (NYSE: APTV) and Hyundai Motor Group have announced that they will be forming an autonomous driving joint venture. This partnership brings together one of the industry's most innovative vehicle technology providers and one of the world's largest vehicle manufacturers. The joint venture will advance the design, development, and commercialization of SAE Level 4 and 5 autonomous technologies, furthering the partners' leadership position in the global autonomous driving ecosystem. The joint venture will begin testing fully driverless systems in 2020 and have a production-ready autonomous driving platform available for robotaxi providers, fleet operators, and automotive manufacturers in 2022. As part of the agreement, Hyundai Motor Group and Aptiv will each have a 50% ownership stake in the joint venture, valued at a total of US$4 billion. Aptiv will contribute its autonomous driving technology, intellectual property, and approximately 700 employees focused on the development of scalable autonomous driving solutions. Hyundai Motor Group affiliates — Hyundai Motor, Kia Motors, and Hyundai Mobis — will collectively contribute US$1.6 billion in cash at closing and US$0.4 billion in vehicle engineering services, R&D resources, and access to intellectual property.
James Gorton, a corporate partner in Latham & Watkins’ New York office who co-led the firm’s deal team, commented: “We are delighted to advise Hyundai Motor Group on this milestone joint venture with Aptiv. The deal exemplifies Latham’s capabilities advising on cutting edge cross-border transactions and ability to draw upon the firm’s global platform to provide clients with a premier multidisciplinary deal team.”
Latham & Watkins LLP represents Hyundai Motor Group in the transaction with a corporate deal team led by New York partner James Gorton, Seoul partner Wonsuk (Steve) Kang, Los Angeles partner David Zaheer, and New York counsel Michael Anastasio, with associates Molly Ryan, David Kim, Vela Park, and Adam Rosenthal. Advice was also provided on intellectual property matters by Silicon Valley partner Anthony Klein, with associates Morgan Brubaker and Cassandra Wang; on tax matters by New York partner Jiyeon Lee-Lim and Chicago partner Enrique Rene de Vera, with associate Anne McGinnis; on benefits and compensation matters by Los Angeles partner Larry Seymour and San Francisco partner Julie Crisp, with associates Juliet Rognlie, Megan Ampe, and Joe Farrell; on CFIUS matters by Washington, D.C. partners Les Carnegie and Steven Croley, with associate Zachary Eddington; on antitrust matters by Washington, D.C. partners Michael Egge and Jason Cruise and Brussels partner Héctor Armengod; on real estate matters by Los Angeles partner Kim Boras; and on environmental matters by Los Angeles partner Michael Feeley and Los Angeles counsel Aron Potash.