Linklaters’ projects team in Tokyo covers all bases, advising on ammonia/hydrogen, renewable energy, energy transition, and battery manufacturing projects. The group’s client roster includes major borrowers, sponsors, lenders, DFIs, and ECAs. Hirofumi Taba has considerable experience assisting Japanese and international clients with inbound and outbound transactions, demonstrating notable strength in offshore wind and hydrogen/ammonia projects. He leads the team alongside Ilia Ditiatev, who specialises in energy and natural resources transactions in emerging markets, focusing on energy transition projects and infrastructure financings.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • ‘Hirofumi Taba is an outstanding partner in Tokyo. He has rich experience in the energy sector, especially in transactions relating to investments made by Japanese corporations. Such experience and lessons learned from it enable him to stand out from his competitors.'

  • 'Paul Grethe-Watanabe is a unique lawyer in terms of responsiveness to clients' needs. He always focuses on providing adequate input to clients in quite a short time frame, which enables the client to decide promptly.'

  • ‘Mamoru Ikeda and the entire Linklaters team are strong communicators who provide commercially-minded, legally robust support to our company in a variety of different legal fields. They give special attention to learning about the business to provide the optimal support.’

  • ‘Linklaters provides pragmatic, sensible and legally robust advice on complex projects with challenging timelines. They are approachable and provide fast turn-around times.’

  • ‘They are always quick to mobilise additional specialists when needed and are good at driving progress across the wider deal process. They offer high-quality advice on often complex matters in often high-pressure situations. They are commercially minded and good at problem-solving to unblock bottlenecks. There is very strong partner leadership.'

Key clients

  • Asian Development Bank (ADB)
  • Daiwa Energy & Infrastructure
  • Envision
  • Chugoku Electric Power Co Inc
  • Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC)
  • Kansai Electric Power Co Inc
  • Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI)
  • Northland Power
  • Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC)
  • Marubeni Corporation

Work highlights

Advising Mitsui on its acquisition of 49% equity interest in Kasso MidCo ApS, an affiliate of European Energy A/S.
Advising Actis on the establishment of its $500m renewable energy platform in Japan, Nozomi Energy Co., Ltd and its acquisition of 100% of Hergo Japan Energy Corporation, with a portfolio of solar, onshore and offshore wind projects.
Advised Northland Power Inc.(NPI) and Mitsui & Co., Ltd (Mitsui) as joint developers, and the Hai Long project companies, on the TWD 117bn project financing of the 1,022MW Hai Long offshore wind farm project in Taiwan.

Lawyers

Leading partners: Gaiben

The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.

John Maxwell

Leading partners: Bengoshi

The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.

Hirofumi Taba

Practice head

Hirofumi Taba; Ilia Ditiatev

Other key lawyers

Paul Grethe-Watanabe; Mamoru Ikeda