Honda Motor Co., Ltd. - Capital restructuring of automotive supplier Hitachi Astemo, Ltd.
Leading Japanese law firm Nishimura & Asahi advised Honda Motor Co., Ltd. [TSE: 7267 and NYSE: HMC] on its agreement with Hitachi, Ltd. [TSE: 6501], JICC-01 Limited Partnership managed by JICC-01 LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of JIC Capital, Ltd., and Hitachi Astemo Ltd., a Japan-based supplier of automotive parts, to change the capital structure of and Honda’s shareholding in Hitachi Astemo with the capital participation of JIC Capital.
The Nishimura & Asahi team advising Honda was led by partners Yuki Oi, Kazumaro Kobayashi and Tsukasa Tahara, and counsel Daisuke Hoshino.
People
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.
In M&A transactions, Tsukasa has been involved in a nubmber of transactions, including management integration of large companies, going-private transactions, business carve-outs transactions, and establishment of joint ventures. In recent years, he has especially focused on tender offer transactions, including management buy-outs, and business succession of owner-operated companies. He is strong in efficient and steady execution of transactions based on his extensive experience and is committed to providing flexible solutions that are tailored to the client's situation. In the area of general corporate matters, he handles a wide range of cases, including corporate governance, drafting and review of various contracts, and corporate disputes. He has a deep understanding and extensive experiences of the manufacturing and retail sectors, as well as finance, automotive/auto parts, logistics, and food and beverage.
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).