Honda Motor Co., Ltd. – Sale of Shares in Atsumitec Co., Ltd. to Samvardhana Motherson International Limited
Nishimura & Asahi advised Honda Motor Co., Ltd. [TSE: 7267 and NYSE: HMC] (Honda) on a series of transactions involving the acquisition of Atsumitec Co., Ltd. (Atsumitec), an automotive parts manufacturer of which Honda was a major shareholder, by Samvardhana Motherson International Limited (SAMIL), an India-based automotive parts manufacturer. This included a buy-back of Atsumitec’s shares from Honda. Other shareholders of Atsumitec sold their shares to a wholly-owned subsidiary of SAMIL. As a result, SAMIL now holds 95% of the shares in Atsumitec, and Honda holds 5%.
The team was led by partners Yuki Oi, Toshihito Yasaki, Kazumaro Kobayashi, and Tomonori Maezawa.
People
Toshihito (Toshi) is a member of our corporate and M&A practice groups. He advises corporate clients, both Japanese and non-Japanese, on domestic and cross-border corporate transactions involving various industries and deal structures, including stock and asset acquisitions, mergers, corporate splits, group reorganizations, joint ventures, and strategic alliances. He has extensive experience in representing international clients in their investments into Japan and their ongoing general commercial transactions, as well as assisting Japanese clients with their investments and business expansions into Asia, Europe, the U.S., and other parts of the world, working closely with local counsel. He has a wealth of international experience, including living in the U.K. for seven years and three years in the U.S. Toshi also has expertise in providing strategic advice on other general corporate matters, including corporate governance, compliance, commercial contracts/transactions, and commercial disputes.
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.
Tomonori has been involved in numerous deals, including business integrations of listed companies, acquisition of listed companies, forming joint ventures, and capital and business alliances. Leveraging his experience of being seconded to a major automobile manufacturer, he also focuses on M&A involving automotive parts suppliers, forming joint ventures with battery manufacturers, and venture investment in new areas such as autonomous driving. He also handles competition law compliance, focusing on merger filings, and provides one-stop advice tailored to the client's situation.
Yuki Oi is a partner in our M&A/Corporate practice group. He advises domestic and international corporations and financial institutions on their cross-border and domestic M&A transactions. He also handles corporate governance matters and general corporate issues, as well as corporate crisis management matters and commercial litigation.
Some of the major cases he has advised on include representing UFJ Holdings on its integration with Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group (2006), Bulldog Sauce on its famous defense against a hostile takeover attempt initiated by Steel Partners (2007), the Osaka Securities Exchange on its integration with the Tokyo Stock Exchange (2011), Idemitsu Kosan on its integration with Showa Shell Sekiyu (2015-19), Toshiba on its divestiture of Toshiba Memory Corporation (2018), and Honda on its strategic alliance with Sony Group in mobility sector (2022).
He was awarded the Young Lawyer of the Year Award at the ALB Japan Law Awards 2019, and the Innovative Practitioners Award at the FT Innovative Lawyers Awards Asia-Pacific 2020. He was also selected as one of Asia’s top 40 lawyers under 40 by Asian Legal Business in 2017.
He has also served as a lecturer at the University of Tokyo, Faculty of Law (2012-13), and as a lecture (2014-24) and a Visiting Professor (2025-present) at the University of Tokyo Graduate Schools for Law and Politics.