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North East Asia Legal Adviser of the Year: IJGlobal APAC Awards 2022

We are pleased to announce that Nishimura & Asahi was named “North East Asia Legal Adviser of the Year”, a new category specifically created to recognize our pioneering work, at the IJGlobal APAC Awards 2022, hosted by IJGlobal - Project Finance & Infrastructure Journal on March 23, 2023. This is the first time a Japanese law firm has received this honor.

In addition, Nishimura & Asahi advised on the following award-winning transactions: 

Asia-Pacific Renewables Deal of the Year – Offshore Wind 
GPI Ishikari Bay Offshore Wind Farm and BESS, Japan
Tomohiro Sato, Daiki Akashika

Asia-Pacific Renewables Deal of the Year – Solar 
Yatsubo Solar PV Plant, Japan
Maya Ito, Nathan Schmidt 

People

佐藤 知紘

Tomohiro regularly serves as legal counsel to major financial institutions, trading companies, and energy companies on various projects and project finance transactions. His extensive experience with domestic projects covers a wide variety of sectors including renewable energy, IPP, grid connections, airports, water, and social infrastructure. He also has broad experience with international project financing transactions, including financing for LNG projects, mining projects, and refineries. Tomohiro is recognized as a leading project finance lawyer by Chambers Asia-Pacific, The Legal 500, IFLR1000, Best Lawyers and Who’s Who Legal. He was also named “Energy and Infrastructure Lawyer of the Year” at The Asia Legal Awards 2021.

伊藤 真弥

Maya has extensive experience advising international investors on cross-border renewable energy projects, as well as advising both borrowers and lenders on financing for renewable energy projects in Japan. She previously worked in the cross-border project finance team of a Japanese megabank, handling matters relating to natural resources, power and energy, and infrastructure. Maya has also provided banks, financial institutions, and other corporate clients, most of which operate their businesses globally, with compliance and regulatory advice, as well as advice on a variety of governance matters. She is actively involved in D&I projects aimed at promoting the active participation of women, and has organized numerous D&I seminars and other similar events for corporations. She is also actively involved in Climate Change related projects and has organized Climate Change seminars and events.

ネイサン・シュミット

He represents clients engaged in a broad range of banking and finance matters, including real estate financing facilities, leveraged financing transactions, restructurings, project financing facilities and structured finance transactions. He also has expertise in representing foreign and domestic investors, funds, and corporate entities in various types of matters, including joint ventures, mergers, acquisitions, and investment transactions. In recent years, he has also represented clients engaged in many solar PV projects and other renewable energy projects.

赤鹿 大樹

Daiki has experience and knowledge in a wide range of business areas as a finance lawyer (such as project finance, infrastructure/PPP, securitization/liquidation, real-estate structured finance, and fundraising). He has worked for and been seconded to both financial institutions and a developer (overseas business development base of a Japanese trading and investment company in Dubai). In recent years, taking advantage of such experience and his knowledge of actual business operations, he has been providing practical and detailed support and advice to clients, mainly in the fields of infrastructure and energy (including the renewable energy sector), throughout from start-up to achievement of highly challenging projects and new businesses, as well as providing legal support to resolve various issues (including disputes) that arise during operation of the projects. In addition to his involvement in projects to support financial institutions, he has a particularly strong track record of involvement in projects to support developers, sponsors, EPCs, and suppliers.