Nisshin Seifun Group - Acquisition of Kumamoto Flour Milling Co., Ltd.

Ryutaro Nakayama specializes in General Corporate and M&A work, and advises clients on a broad range of issues and transactions relating to M&A, Japanese corporate, securities, tax, and merger control laws, and regulations specific to various industries. He is a leading lawyer in the field of competition law in Japan, and possesses a unique set of skills and experience, drawn from his extensive experience handling M&A, corporate, and merger control cases and transactions. He has obtained transaction clearances from competition authorities even where the resulting combined market share exceeded 50% in the relevant markets. He has led Nishimura & Asahi’s Africa Practice Team since its formation in 2014. He has established a strong network of connections with Japanese entrepreneurs and businesses that target the African continent, as well as with leading law firms based in Africa. He has been named a leading lawyer in the fields of Corporate/M&A and/or competition law by various publications, including Chambers Global, Chambers Asia-Pacific, and The Nikkei’s annual rankings of “Most Successful Lawyers.” He was appointed the Managing Partner of Nishimura & Asahi in April 2021.

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.

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.

Masahiro Heike specializes in international trade law. From 2016 to 2018, he worked at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry as an in-government lawyer, and handled numerous WTO disputes and trade negotiations and was responsible for the trade policies of other jurisdictions including the United States and China. Currently, he is involved in a wide range of matters including WTO dispute settlement cases, domestic and foreign trade remedy cases (anti-dumping, safeguards), government research related to international trade law, and the handling of tariffs and origin relations.

Nobu Tanaka is a partner in our Antitrust and International Trade practice team dealing with merger control, cartel/bid rigging, monopoly, unfair trade practice and dispute related cases. Nobu has much experience in dealing with cross-border merger control, international cartels and cross-border litigation cases. Through his 3 years experience in the U.S., Nobu has a deep understanding of the legal, business and cultural difference between Japan and other countries and he has expertise in explaining Japanese laws in a plain manner. Nobu always tries to understand clients’ interest and clients’ businesses deeply so that he can provide better and flexible solution. Nobu has good reputation in deep understanding of industries and business. In addition to antitrust cases, Nobu also handles various non-antitrust matters, such as cross-border commercial litigation, internal investigation, white-collar matters and cross-borer corporate transaction and general corporate matters including advice relating to new business in Japan. He also has a good reputation in timely and efficient communication. Nobu has LL.M degree at Stanford Law School (2017) and J.D. degree at University of Tokyo School of Law (magna cum laude). Nobu is fluent in English.