Goldman Sachs Japan Co., Ltd. - MBO of Nihon Housing Co., Ltd.
Nishimura & Asahi advised Goldman Sachs Japan Co., Ltd. on the acquisition and privatization via management buyout of Nihon Housing Co., Ltd. [TSE: 4781], a building and real estate management company, through Marcian Holdings GK, incorporated by an affiliated fund of Goldman Sachs.
The Nishimura & Asahi team advising Goldman Sachs was led by partners Asa Shinkawa and Keitaro Hamada from our corporate/M&A practice, Kazumaro Kobayashi from our competition/antitrust law practice, and Takashi Saito from our finance practice, supported by Ing-Chian Sun from our Taiwan practice team, Tomoro Yoshimoto from our Singapore office, and Taro Hirosawa, Isamu Imaizumi and Phan Thien Huong from our Vietnam practice team.
People
Takashi is a seasoned finance lawyer with experience in various types of financing transactions, including acquisition finance/private equity, venture finance, securitization, real estate finance and asset management, having particular strength in crosscutting financial transactions. By integrating his abundant and wide ranging knowledge and experience, he regularly provides multilateral advice to domestic and international financial institutions, mezzanine investors, private equity funds, venture capital funds, real estate funds and asset management companies. In the field of acquisition finance, where Takashi enjoys an impressive reputation according to Chambers, Legal 500 and IFLR, as a core member of our acquisition finance practice, he has advised our clients in a large number of acquisition financing transactions such as LBO/MBO. His strength has been especially demonstrated in transactions having novel and complex structures. Takashi also has a wide ranging of experience in the field of venture finance. Representing one of the largest Japanese venture capital funds, he has advised on venture capital investments in more than 200 startups around the world including Japan, US, UK, Singapore, Canada, Israel, India, Netherlands and South Korea.
Ing-Chian is a lead partner of our Taiwan practice group. As one of the few Taiwanese lawyers based in Japan, she handles a wide variety of matters for clients that conduct business in relation to Taiwan, such as M&A, finance, real estate, competition law/antitrust law, IP, and other international legal matters.
Notably, she was the first Taiwanese lawyer ever to be registered as a Gaikokuho-Jimu-Bengoshi (Registered Foreign Lawyer in Japan) qualified to practice law in Taiwan. She is based in Japan, but serves as a Co-Representative of our Taipei office, and provides our Japanese and Taiwanese clients with seamless, timely legal support for both their inbound and outbound legal needs.
In addition to seven years' experience in Vietnam, Taro also has experience in working as in-house counsel for a major trading company. He has strong expertise in cross-border M&A/joint ventures, real estate development, labor, compliance, crisis management deals, and international transactions. In recent years, the scope of his work has expanded to include Turkey and other Middle Eastern countries. He is also a member of the Agrifood Practice Team.
Clients value Isamu’s unique insight into the challenges and uncertainties that they face in a dynamic, growing region. In addition to his experience in Vietnam, he has practiced in Tokyo and various other Asian locations, including a secondment to an Indian law firm. He is known for leveraging his international experience and cultural insights into the local legal and commercial practices to resolve complex, cross-border legal issues in a timely manner, working closely with local counsel. He advises on investments at all stages, from inception to post-closing operations, as well as dispute resolution.
Kazumaro’s antitrust practice spans various industries, including automotive, energy, telecommunication, medical/healthcare and finance. Kazumaro regularly represents clients in high-profile matters, including merger and acquisitions that require approval in multiple jurisdictions, and global and domestic cartel investigations.
Based in Singapore since April 2014, Tomoro's areas of expertise include general corporate matters and M&A, disputes, labor and crisis management cases in Singapore, Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries. He strives to deepen his knowledge and understanding of the distinct language/culture/regulations/commercial practices, and believes that communication is the key in any project. He regularly speaks in compliance seminars for the branch offices and the subsidiaries of his clients.
Keitaro deals with various cross-border M&A transactions, both inbound and outbound, backed by his experience working in U.S. and Australian law firms. He has an extensive track record of success in handling private equity deals, not only on acquisitions but also on exits. Further, his practice includes M&A generally, such as business integrations, carve-outs, and JV formation. Clients value his outstanding analysis, communication, and presentation skills beyond just language (both Japanese and English), which he leverages for successful discussions and negotiations with clients, advisors, and counterparties.
Huong is highly skilled at providing practical solutions that are tailored to clients' needs in regard to M&A, foreign investment, corporate governance and restructuring, contract law, employment, and market access in Vietnam. She has advised numerous international clients on various complex deals in a variety of heavily regulated industries, such as real estate, land and construction, trade and distribution, securities, and M&A filing requirements with respect to competition and antitrust laws. In addition to representing large corporations in a diverse range of business law matters, she also assists clients in negotiating and dealing with counterparties in order to identify any obstacles between the parties and achieve the parties’ goals. When clients require practical solutions for their business projects in Vietnam, they turn to Huong.
Asa Shinkawa has been a partner in the M&A/corporate group at Nishimura & Asahi since 2001. She has a long and successful history of advising Japanese and international corporations and private equity firms. Ms. Shinkawa has advised on mergers and acquisitions, tender offers, cross border transactions, domestic acquisitions and divestitures and going private transactions, restructurings and spin offs, joint ventures, and numerous other kinds of transactions and commercial arrangements. Ms. Shinkawa has been recognized as one of the world's leading lawyers in the field of Corporate/Mergers and Acquisitions in Chambers Global - The World's Leading Lawyers for Business, since 2009, and is ranked as one of the top practitioners in Japan in the field of Corporate/M&A. She was awarded "Dealmaker of the Year" at the ALB Japan Law Awards 2022, "Dealmaker of the Year, North Asia" at the ALB Women in Law Awards 2021 and "Woman Lawyer of the Year" at the ALB Japan Law Awards 2020, "M&A Deal of the Year” at the IFLR Asia-Pacific Awards 2022, "Private Equity Deal of the Year” at The Asia Legal Awards 2021 and "Legal Expertise: Creating a New Standard” at the Financial Times Asia-Pacific Innovative Lawyer Awards 2019, and has received many other accolades. In addition, she has advised on M&A transactions and integrations/business combinations between public corporations in which merger control considerations were a critical prerequisite for the consummation of the transactions. Ms. Shinkawa has also advised extensively on the application of antitrust law in relation to joint ventures, business alliances and other types of cooperative arrangements between competitors, sole-distributorship arrangements, distribution agreements, dealer agreements and license arrangements. She was engaged in the reform of the electricity system in Japan, as an expert member of governmental committees under the Electricity and Gas Market Surveillance Commission and various committees of the Advisory committees for Natural resourse and Energy of the METI from 2015 to 2021.