Mitsubishi UFJ Lease & Finance Co., Ltd.: Acquisition of stake in UK offshore windfarm project
Leading Japanese law firm Nishimura & Asahi advised Mitsubishi UFJ Lease & Finance Company Limited (“MUL”) [TSE: 8593] on its participation in the Moray East Offshore windfarm project, located in Moray Bay off the northeast coast of Scotland, UK.
MUL has agreed to acquire 20% of the shares of Diamond Green Limited, which holds a 33.4% stake in the project, from Diamond Generating Europe Limited, a UK-based subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corporation, through MUL Infrastructure UK Limited, a UK-based infrastructure-related investment subsidiary of MUL. The agreement gives MUL a 6.68% ownership stake in the project.
The Nishimura & Asahi team advising MUL was led by partners Megumi Shimizu, Yasunari Sugiyama, Hiroki Kaga, James Emerson, Mark Tudor and Kentaro Miyagi.
People
Yasunari Sugiyama is a partner in the firm's Asset Finance Group and Agri-Food Practice Group. In the finance area, his major and unique areas include financing of movables (lease, installment purchase and secured loan), supports for overseas expansion by financial institutions, acquisition finance and domestic and cross-border real estate transactions. In particular, he has extensive experience in proposing and implementing business plans and schemes available for each target jurisdiction taking into consideration the specific civil and commercial laws and financial regulations regarding the movables and real estates in Asian, European and North and South American countries and their entity-based and geographical applicability and coverage in terms of the overseas expansion of Japanese financial institutions. Further, in the agri-food area, he aims to provide legal services for the purposes of the introduction of smart agriculture, business expansion and diversification of financing sources, development and scaling of new business such as solar-sharing and onland aquaculture business, in each case while organizing the various laws and regulations applicable to each process of value chains of the agricultural, forestry and fishery business.
By leveraging his experience abroad and his secondment to a trading company in Japan, Hiroki Kaga has experience in complex cross-border transactions. His strength is the knowledge and experience of cutting-edge practices in the M&A, start-up and private equity area.
Kentaro has advised on a number of cross-border finance transactions, including asset financing in respect of aircraft and ships, for various parties, including financial institutions, lessors, and airline and other operators. He has extensive experience launching new schemes in the asset financing industry, such as insurance-backed leasing deals and capital market structures incorporating Japanese operating leases. He also has considerable expertise in compliance-related matters involving banking and securities law, mainly for financial institutions. Leveraging his significant cross-border expertise, he regularly supports international clients on their cross-border activities. He is also a regular speaker at seminars on aircraft and ship financing.
Megumi has broad experience in M&A transactions (public and private deals), joint ventures, strategic alliances, going private, intra-group reorganizations, investment in startups, and other commercial transactions in various business sectors, including fashion, finance, healthcare, food and beverage, renewable energy, and auto parts. She also advises clients in general corporate matters, including corporate governance and various compliance matters. She is a member of the firm’s Life Sciences/Healthcare Practice Group, and she advises clients in connection with licensing, distribution, collaboration and other contractual arrangements based on her knowledge and experience in legal matters related to the pharmaceutical industry.