Sumitomo Electric Industries – Acquisitions of Nissin Electric and TECHNO ASSOCIE through tender offers

Kaz is a partner in our Corporate practice. He has strong expertise in various M&A transactions including outbound/inbound deals. He is unique given his broad activities throughout his career, such as professional experience in a management consulting firm and a private equity fund, as well as the start-up of our Hanoi office in Vietnam. Leveraging his insights gained from this experience, he always provides clients with tailored services in a timely and flexible manner.

Ayako Matsumoto is a partner at Nishimura & Asahi specializing in the area of Corporate/M&A. She has handled various domestic and cross-border M&A transactions, including complicated and large-scale issues. She also provides extensive advice on a wide range of corporate activities, including corporate governance, compliance, management and utilization of information, digital transformation, brand strategy, insurance, and various corporate and commercial transactions. She is a core member of our data protection practice group, and provides practical advice regarding information related issues on global management of personal data, trade secrets and intellectual property, insider trading regulations, cyber security insurance, utilization of digital technology, etc. She has also been focusing on the fashion law practice, and provides crosscutting and global legal support, by closely collaborating with our experts in various fields and local offices, for apparel designers, retailers, manufacturers, importers, investors, and brand owners and luxury goods companies. She provides practical, commercial, and creative advice to protect brands and ensure they remain competitive in a fierce and rapidly evolving industry with rapid progress in digital economy and social transformation.

Since joining Nishimura & Asahi in 2006, Yasunori has dealt with various M&A transactions in Japan and overseas. In particular, with respect to transactions involving listed companies, he excels at strategizing flexibly based on the complex circumstances and needs of the parties concerned, and seeing such projects to completion. When handling M&A transactions, he places an emphasis on maximizing the benefit to his clients while giving due consideration to the overall benefit to all of those involved. In addition to the above, Yasunori has advised on defenses against hostile takeovers and responses to shareholder activism for companies such as Toshiba Machine (currently Shibaura Machine) and Tokyo Kikai Seisakusho. In recent years, he has also provided advice for the acquisition side of hostile takeovers, with industrial companies as his clients.

Keita has experience of working in the Financial Services Agency of the Government of Japan as a government official who has been in charge of the revisions of Japan’s Corporate Governance Code and Japan’s Stewardship Code. Furthermore, he has gained practical experience in Fidelity International, which is one of the largest global asset management companies, through engaging with investee companies, in proxy voting, and sustainable investing in the Investment Management Department. He applies this experience to provide legal services on various corporate matters, including corporate governance, sustainability-related matters, M&A transactions, and relationships with shareholders and other stakeholders. He provides tailored advice on the matters by properly considering the interests of multi-stakeholders based on his extensive knowledge and experience in the field. He has also authored numerous books and articles, and he has been a regular speaker at lectures and seminars on practical legal issues.

He joined Nishimura & Asahi in 2000 and has been a partner with the firm since 2009. His work is primarily in the field of finance. He represents lender and borrower side clients in a broad range of public and private financing transactions, with a special emphasis on acquisition finance. In this field he is recognized as a renowned practitioner with a high level of expertise and has advised on a large number of transactions such as LBO/MBO transactions involving both listed and unlisted companies, as well as on mezzanine financing transactions. He also has wide ranging experience in the area of structured finance, where he has been involved in numerous securitization transactions of a wide variety of assets including monetary claims, real estate and distressed assets. Furthermore, with his experience seconded to a merchant banking subsidiary of an investment banking firm, his expertise also extends to the areas of private equity and principal investment.

Having many years of experience in Chinese business, she is well versed in Chinese legislation and practice. She is skilled at providing realistic risk assessments and balanced solutions based on local legal systems and operational practices, while understanding client needs. She can provide wide-ranging support for Chinese investments by Japanese companies, M&As, general corporate law, compliance, labor law and international transactions in China, leveraging an accurate understanding of the Chinese legislation and a sense of local practice. In addition to being involved in numerous acquisitions and joint ventures in China with Japanese companies as clients, M&A transactions of Chinese affiliates due to the restructuring of Japanese companies, and designing transaction schemes for target companies (operating companies) after M&A transactions, she also supports on-site surveys for fraud investigations at Chinese subsidiaries.

Yutaka has represented Japanese and international clients such as major manufacturing companies, general trading companies, real estate developers, general contractors, telecommunication companies, natural resource and energy companies, steel makers, PE funds, and venture capital companies in complex domestic and cross-border transactions, as well as commercial litigation involving cross-border matters. He regularly works on international transactions and provides services for international clients. When it comes to Japanese deals, he excels at handling carve-out transactions, which tend to have numerous, complicated issues.

Kumi provides strategic and innovative solutions to complex problems in the field of corporate governance. Her track record includes: supporting a major Japanese trust bank in developing a new scheme for equity incentive plans and lobbying regulatory reforms; and advising major Japanese companies in building global compensation and indemnification structures. She is also known for her expertise in management of shareholder meetings/board of directors meetings, disclosure, organizational design, internal control, anti-takeover measure, etc. She also has over 10 years experience advising clients on both cross-border and domestic M&A, reorganization and joint venture transactions.

Takako has substantial experience in matters involving improper quality control practices, misappropriation of trade secrets, and employee fraud. She previously worked at the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission of Japan (2014-2017), and draws on that experience when handling violations of the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, such as insider trading and violations of disclosure regulations. Her practice areas also include performing investigations and providing comprehensive, tailored solutions for and advice on various issues, including initial responses to the discovery of violations, general shareholders’ meetings, responses to customers, and other matters.