au Financial Holdings Corporation: Acquisition of au Jibun Bank Corporation and Transfer of au Kabucom Securities Co., Ltd.
Nishimura & Asahi advised au Financial Holdings Corporation on the acquisition of all shares in au Jibun Bank Corporation from MUFG Bank, Ltd. and on the transfer of all shares in au Kabucom Securities Co., Ltd. to MUFG Bank.
The Nishimura & Asahi team advising au Financial Holdings was led by partners Yasutaka Nishikori and Yoshito Wakabayashi, supported by Yuta Isshiki and Kaito Nishi.
While mainly focusing on financial transactions and financial regulations, he has also advised on a variety of projects such as international disputes regarding financial products and M&A transactions (especially those involving financial institutions). Projects he has represented include an acquisition of shares in Seiyu by KKR and Rakuten in 2021, the restructuring of KDDI’s financial business in 2020, and Aozora Bank’s capital restructuring to repay governmental funds in 2013. He won the “Deal of the Year” award at Japan Achievement Awards 2014/2015 hosted by FinanceAsia and the “Japan Deal of the Year” award at Japan Law Awards 2015 sponsored by Asian Legal Business (ALB) with respect to Suntory Holdings’ acquisition of Beam, Inc. in 2014. His practice area also includes international taxation. Taking advantage of his considerable experience in advising on international financial transactions, he provides clients with practical tax advice both at the stage of transaction structuring and during tax disputes, especially in relation to complicated financial instruments. He successfully represented Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance in contesting a tax assessment on a cross-border reinsurance transaction ceding earthquake-related risks. He is also very active in academia. He was a Visiting Associate Professor at the University of Tokyo, Graduate Schools of Law and Politics from 2010 to 2013 and has been a lecturer at Keio University Law School since 2014. He has authored numerous academic articles such as Corpus Juris Finance (Co-author; Shojihomu Kenkyukai, 2003), Comparative Income Taxation - Fourth Edition (Co-author; Kluwer Law International, 2019), and Analysis of Issue Prices in Public Offerings (Co-author; Yuhikaku, 2015).