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    Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd. - Transfer of stock in Idemitsu Snorre Oil Development Co., Ltd. to INPEX Corporation

Leading Japanese law firm Nishimura & Asahi advised Japanese energy major Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd. [TSE: 5019] on the transfer of stock in its subsidiary Idemitsu Snorre Oil Development Co., Ltd. (“ISD”) to INPEX Corporation [TSE: 1605]. Following the transfer, Idemitsu Kosan will operate ISD jointly with INPEX.

The Nishimura & Asahi team advising Idemitsu Kosan was led by partners Yuki Oi, Hiroyasu Konno, and Takeshi Nemoto, supported by counsel Masatsugu Sakamoto.

People

大井 悠紀

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 Graduate Schools for Law and Politics (2014-present).

紺野 博靖

Hiroyasu Konno specializes in the energy and natural resources sector, mainly in the upstream and middle-stream sectors, such as projects and transactions regarding LNG, biomass fuels, coal, rare metals, copper ore, petroleum, and other minerals in the world, as well as the down-stream sectors such as transactions regarding electricity and gas in Japan. He has a breadth of knowledge about industrial practices and policy trends, through his experience working as a secondee, or temporary worker, at Nippon Oil (currently ENEOS), JOGMEC (Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (currently Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security)),and JERA, in addition to an energy and natural resources team in a foreign law firm, as well as experience from being a committee member of relevant governmental panels. He always endeavors to provide clients with legal services with additional value, including managerial perspectives. He handles all kinds of legal issues related to the energy and natural resources sector, by closely working together with N&A’s experts in each sector. He also actively works on legal issues with regard to “carbon”, such as CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage), transactions of carbon credits, and others.

根本 剛史

Takeshi has handled many complex M&A transactions and provides sincere advice to his clients. He has extensive experience in M&A-related disputes, and is well versed in the various issues facing companies with founding family shareholders. In recent years, he has been involved in many cases involving business and human rights, impact investing, and advises companies from the perspective of sustainability. He is also actively involved in pro bono work and is one of the most experienced in Japan.

坂元 正嗣

Masatsugu advises domestic and overseas corporate clients on large and small sized M&A transactions and general corporate matters. He has also expanded his practice into M&A transactions involving medical corporations. Prior to joining Nishimura & Asahi, he worked for over three years at a small law firm on a broad range of civil cases, including loans and debt collections, real property transactions, traffic accidents, labor issues, bankruptcies and rehabilitations, litigation and mediation, and criminal cases. He studied at a U.S. law school and trained at a law firm in the U.S. before being seconded to the M&A promotion office of a Japanese company for two years, supporting its M&A activities as part of a principal team. Backed by his diversified work experience, he advises clients in Japanese and English, covering a wide range of inquiries and requests closely meeting the client’s needs.