Komehyo Holdings Co., Ltd. – Acquisition of Shares in U.S.-based iShopShops, Inc.

Mr. Umeda has a wide range of experience handling corporate matters for Japanese clients investing in the U.S. and Mexico. He was seconded to a Mexican law firm (Mexico City and Queretaro) from 2016 to 2018, where he was involved broadly in corporate matters concerning Japanese companies operating in Mexico. Since 2019, he has provided practical support to Japanese companies located in the U.S. and Latin America in regard to M&A, general corporate legal affairs, compliance, labor management, disputes, and debt collection, while giving due consideration to local practices. In addition to his work on U.S.- and Mexico- related matters, Mr. Umeda also utilizes his connections with leading law firms in Latin America to allow for collaboration at a local level and thereby provide more flexible support to clients.

Since joining Nishimura & Asahi, Akira has been involved in numerous corporate and M&A deals, including mergers, acquisitions, corporate reorganizations, capital and business alliances, joint ventures, and take-private transactions by PE funds. In particular, Akira has advised on many cross-border transactions. While seconded to ITOCHU Corporation in 2019-2020, Akira was involved in energy- and infrastructure-related transactions, and he has continued to advise on these transactions since his return.

James has significant experience being the lead negotiator in complex cross-border transactions and coordinating teams of lawyers in multiple jurisdictions with respect to all aspects of such transactions, including with respect to multi-jurisdictional legal due diligence processes, antitrust and other regulatory filings and other local law issues. James has represented private equity and hedge funds, public and private companies and other clients in a broad range of domestic and cross-border transactions and other matters, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, minority investments, venture capital investments, public-private partnerships, private and public securities offerings, tender offers, proxy contests and corporate restructurings. Prior to joining Nishimura & Asahi, James was a corporate associate at firms in New York and Canada.