NYK Line: Acquisition of Segments of ENEOS Ocean Corporation’s Shipping Business

Takefumi Sato is a partner in the M&A and general corporate practice groups at Nishimura & Asahi. He has represented clients in various M&A transactions and other kinds of domestic and cross-border commercial transactions. His broad M&A experience includes business mergers and strategic alliances involving listed companies and going-private transactions via cash-out schemes, management buyouts, and joint ventures, and covers a wide range of industries such as manufacturing and financial services. He has also advised companies on defending against unsolicited bids and hostile takeover attempts. In addition, he has a wealth of expertise in matters related to the Companies Act and the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act and has frequently counseled clients on corporate governance matters, including advising on shareholders meetings and providing support for business judgments. He also lectures and publishes in these areas. Moreover, he has recently expanded his practice to emerging legal issues in situations requiring difficult business decisions.

Madoka advises clients on various matters of competition law, including domestic and international cartels, bid-rigging, M&A transactions, investigations by the JFTC, leniency applications and general antitrust law compliance. She is especially active in cross-border transactions. She has represented clients in connection with investigations into various global cartels, involving air cargo, marine hoses, TFT-LCDs, airlines, and bearings, and also in various merger-control cases, including a vertical integration between semiconductor equipment manufacturers, and major global merger transactions in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. She has particular strength and experience handling IT-industry mega deals. Madoka is also active in advising in the international trade area, in particular, government procurement and export control. In addition, she advises on laws preventing unfair competition, including trade secret cases. She served as lead counsel to Nippon Steel Corporation in multinational trade secret litigation against POSCO (a South Korean steel company), a landmark case in this area, and successfully negotiated a favorable settlement for her client. She was a member of the Subcommittee on Unfair Trade Policies and Measures of the Industrial Structure Council at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry from 2013 to 2023.

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.

Akihisa is a partner in our M&A team. He handles many domestic and international M&As, business alliances including JVs, business succession, equity finance, and hostile takeovers. He has abundant practical experience for both listed and unlisted companies and wide range of company sizes and transaction types, knowledge of cutting-edge practical trends and laws and regulations, and the ability to respond flexibly and hands-on.
In addition, he active in start-up finance support, IPO support, and daily legal support.
Recently, using the network and knowledge cultivated through studying abroad in Europe and the United States, he also deals with sustainability-related topics such as sustainable finance, including ESG investment and impact investment, social enterprise, B Corp certification, and social IPO.