Japan > Capital markets > Law firm and leading lawyer rankings

At Anderson Mori & Tomotsune, noteworthy names include Harume Nakano, an asset management and REIT expert; Tatsu Katayama, who is recommended for international mandates; and Hironori Shibata, a ‘calm and friendly practitioner, who knows exactly when to fight his corner’ and ‘a great advocate who always gives the clearest and most practical advice’. The team acts on outbound and inbound transactions with notable expertise in samurai bonds, J-REITs, structured finance issues and convertible bonds. In a recent highlight, the group advised NTT Finance on a $750m note issuance under a Euro medium-term note program. Shibata also led advice to JPMorgan Securities, Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities and Nomura as underwriters on Kyushu Railway Company’s global IPO, and acted for Japan Hotel REIT Investment on a global offering of investment units totalling ¥35bn.

As ‘one of the best firms in the Japanese market’, Mori Hamada & Matsumoto acts for underwriters and issuers in a range of capital markets matters including IPOs, euro-convertible bond offerings, J-REIT formations and debt offerings, as well as handling compliance and regulatory advice. Recent work includes assisting SoftBank with monetising the outstanding shares of Alibaba, advising Kyushu Railway Company on the regulatory issues surrounding its IPO, and acting for Macromill on its global IPO. Hitachi, Mitsubishi and MUFG are also clients. Toru Ishiguro, Satoshi Nakamura, Katsumasa Suzuki and Taro Omoto are key names to note.

Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu’s ‘incredibly reliable’ department ‘handles transactions with poise and precision’, and adopts a ‘highly commercial and practical approach’. Fumihide Sugimoto heads the practice, which includes the highly regarded Hidetaka Mihara and Shinichi Araki. Motohiro Yanagawa is the key name for structured finance deals and recently acted for Mizuho Securities and Mizuho Securities USA as arrangers in a cross-border asset-backed security transaction backed by auto loan receivables. Further mandates include advising on Honma Golf’s IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and assisting SMFG as issuer with a senior bond issuance.

Kohei Koikawa is a key name in Nishimura & Asahi’s team; his recent work includes advising Nipro on its first issuance of euro yen convertible bonds, acting for Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities as manager of Société Générale’s samurai bond offerings, and assisting Central Nippon Expressway Company with its euro dollar bond issuance. The team also assisted Mori Trust Hotel REIT with its IPO, and advised Comforia Residential REIT on its follow-on equity offering. Hiroshi Niinomi, Toshihiro Takeshita and Yoshihiko Kawakami are other names to note.

Atsumi & Sakai is highly regarded for its strength in securitisation, and regularly acts for arrangers, investors and trust banks in a range of structured finance transactions. Managing partner Hiroo Atsumi, Toyoki Emoto and Yuri Suzuki are core members of the team. Other names to note include London-based Ryuichi Nozaki, who regularly acts for Japanese financial institutions; securitisation specialist Fumiko Oikawa; Reiko Yoshida, who handles ship financings; and Yasuhiro Shimada, who is recommended for real estate finance mandates.

Norifusa Hashimoto at Kaynex Law Offices has expertise across debt and equity capital markets with notable strength in samurai bonds, private placements, repackagings, structured finance, asset securitisations and corporate finance issues. Aya Kurahashi and Eiichi Nagai are also recommended; Kurahashi is noted for her securitisation experience including advising on real estate and trade receivables, and Nagai is ‘a brilliant team player’. Kota Kikuchi receives praise for his experience in the energy sector.

Yoshiyasu Yamaguchi heads the department at TMI Associates, which was bolstered in 2017 by the recruitment of Hiroyoshi Kuromaru from Baker McKenzie (Gaikokuho Joint Enterprise). Kuromaru is particularly noted for his samurai bond and uridashi scheme experience; he recently advised Australia and New Zealand Banking Group on its samurai bonds offering, and acted for Daiwa Securities, Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities, Nomura and SMBC Nikko Securities as joint lead managers on National Australia Banks’ samurai bond issuance. Hidenori Nakagawa and newly promoted partner Shintaro Mogi are also recommended. Katsumi Shirai joined Jones Day.

As ‘the standout firm in the market’, Clifford Chance Law Office has ‘a deep understanding of Japanese clients’ and provides them with ‘a professional, knowledgeable and pragmatic service’, which is ‘unmatched by others in the field’. The team acts for some of the key players across the primary and secondary capital markets with clients including Nomura and Asahi Mutual Life; the group advised the latter on its issuance of subordinated perpetual hybrid bonds totalling $350m on the Singapore Exchange. Practice head Reiko Sakimura led the matter and is ‘a great leader who is always able to find fair and practical solutions’; she also acted for Nomura and Mizuho as managers in the issuance of ¥150bn convertible bonds by Kyushu Electric Power and worked with Eiichi Kanda in advising the Republic of Indonesia on its issuance of samurai bonds under private placement totalling ¥100bn. Leng-Fong Lai is recommended for structured finance work and counsel Yasuko Moriwaki is ‘incredibly helpful’.

Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP is ‘one of the best in terms of expertise, willingness to help and responsiveness’. The practice is led by Jon Gray and counsel Christopher Kodama; Gray ‘always thinks about clients first and utilises his sound judgement in the best possible way’ and Kodama is ‘pleasant to work with and dedicated to the matter at hand’. Recent highlights include advising Sushiro Global Holdings on its IPO on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, and assisting Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG) with its SEC-registered TLAC notes offering. Eugene Gregor transferred to the firm’s Menlo Park office.

Peter Frost, who ‘stands out for his exceptional market knowledge’ jointly leads the capital markets team at Linklaters with Kozo Sasaki, while Motoyasu Fujita and counsel Kenneth Lam are the key names to note for structured products. In a recent highlight, Fujita and Lam advised SMBC as trustee on a repackaging transaction; further highlights include acting for the managers of Daiwa Securities’ debut issuance on the Singapore Exchange totalling $1bn, assisting the lead managers with Central Japan Railway Company’s $600m senior bond issuance, and advising the managers of SMFG’s €1.5bn issuance of TLAC-eligible senior notes on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank are also clients.

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP advises a mixed client roster of issuers and underwriters with Citigroup, Daiwa Securities, Mizuho Bank, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Dai-ichi Life Insurance being notable instructing parties. The highly regarded Alan Cannon recently led advice to the underwriters of SMFG’s A$1bn senior notes offering and acted for the underwriters (including Morgan Stanley, Nomura, Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan) of Line’s IPO, while Takahiro Saito advised Kyushu Railway Company on its ¥416bn global IPO on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and assisted Mizuho Financial Group with multiple senior notes offerings totalling $3bn. David Sneider heads the department.

Key names to note at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP include Izumi Akai and Keiji Hatano; the pair recently acted for JPMorgan Securities, Morgan Stanley and Nomura as international representatives of Kyushu Railway Company’s ¥416bn IPO and advised the managers (including Morgan Stanley, Mizuho and Goldman Sachs) on Recruit Holdings’ global equity offering totalling ¥218bn. The team is also highly regarded for its REIT expertise; work examples include advising GLP J-REIT and Nippon Prologis REIT on separate global investment unit offerings and acting for the international managers of Mori Hills REIT Investment on its ¥23bn investment unit offering. Daiwa Securities, MUFG, SoftBank and Japan Post Holdings Group are also clients.

Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP counts MUFG as a key client and recently advised on a $5bn senior notes offering, assisting with the $2bn tap issuance of TLAC notes and acting on its SEC-registered public offering of $2.5bn TLAC notes. Further mandates include advising Toyota Industries Commercial Finance on its private placement of $1bn short-term notes, acting for Seven & i Holdings Co. on the share exchange of Nissen Holdings, and assisting Toyota Industries with the establishment of a Euro medium-term note program. Tong Yu and Kaye Naoko Yoshino lead the practice, which also includes associate Makoto Nishigai.

Following the recruitment of Kenji Taneda from Morrison & Foerster LLP in 2016, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP has ‘continued to go from strength to strength’, advising on debt and equity offerings. Taneda recently led advice to JPMorgan Securities and others as underwriters of a two-tranche bond offering by JBIC totalling $2.8bn; he also acted for Daiwa House REIT on its ¥44bn global equity offering and assisted Nomura as underwriter with Lixil Viva’s IPO on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Practice head Nobuhisa Ishizuka is recommended for corporate finance transactions and counsel Ken Kiyota is ‘a rising star’.

Baker McKenzie (Gaikokuho Joint Enterprise)’s ‘fantastic’ department handles the full gamut of capital markets work including public and private offerings, IPOs, samurai bonds, subordinated notes, structured finance, securitisations and derivatives. Ken Takahashi heads the group and his recent work includes acting for HSBC and Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities as lead managers of ICICI Bank’s bond issuance on the Tokyo Pro-Bond Market and handling a convertible bond equity financing for data solutions company Albert. Nomura, JBIC, Universal Entertainment, GE Capital and Barclays Securities Japan are also clients. Akiko Hosokawa and Gavin Raftery handle securitisations and structured finance issues, and Seishi Ikeda is recommended for share and bond issuances. Hiroyoshi Kuromaru joined TMI Associates.

Fuyuo Mitomi leads the practice at Morrison & Foerster LLP, which also includes Kenji Hosokawa, who regularly acts for J-REITs, transactional specialist Mitsutoshi Uchida, and senior counselor Akihiro Wani, who is ‘one of the most popular senior lawyers in the field’. Recent highlights include acting for Nomura, SMBC Nikko Capital Markets and UBS as lead managers on the initial global offering of investment units by Kenedix Retail REIT, advising Senko on a ¥10bn euro convertible bond offering, and assisting GLP J-REIT with a ¥31bn global follow-on offering. Kenji Taneda joined Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in 2016 and Saori Nakamura retired in early 2017.

As ‘a great firm for US law advice’, Shearman & Sterling has ‘a wealth of experience operating in the Japanese market’, thanks in part to the ‘exceptional knowledge’ of practice head Masahisa Ikeda. Ikeda has notable expertise acting for Japanese corporates in SEC-registered and private placement offerings; he recently advised Toyota on a take-private transaction of Daihatsu Motor involving an SEC registration, and acted for JXTG Holdings on its $16bn business integration with TonenGeneral including a share exchange and related SEC disclosure obligations. Counsels Toshiro Mochizuki and Kana Morimura are also recommended.

At White & Case LLP – White & Case Law Offices (Registered Association), newly promoted partner Seiji Matsuzoe leads the practice, which is recognised for its structured finance and public offering expertise, particularly when cross-border issues are involved. In a recent matter, Matsuzoe led advice to Starts Proceed Investment on its public offering of investment units totalling ¥24bn. Further areas of expertise for the group include samurai bonds, debt buybacks, IPOs, private offerings and derivatives.