Mori Hamada & Matsumoto

Managing Partners: Gaku Ishiwata, Hiroki Aoyama

Number of Partners: 191

Number of Lawyers: 741

Languages:Japanese, English, Chinese, Korean, Taiwanese, Indonesian, Spanish, Thai, Tamil, French, Hindi, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Marathi, Burmese, German, Italian, Malay, Bengali, Gaelic

Firm Overview

Mori Hamada & Matsumoto (MHM) is one of the largest full-service Tokyo-headquartered international law firms. A significant proportion of the firm’s work is international in nature, representing clients in cross-border transactions, litigation and other dispute resolution proceedings.

Offices

MHM has offices in Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka, Takamatsu, Sapporo and Yokohama in addition to its Tokyo headquarters. The firm has very strong full-service local law practices in Bangkok (Chandler MHM Limited) and Yangon (Myanmar Legal MHM Limited) and it is expanding its range of local law services in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Jakarta (ATD Law in association with Mori Hamada & Matsumoto) and Manila (Tayag Ngochua & Chu, a member firm of Mori Hamada & Matsumoto). It also has offices in Singapore (MHM ASEAN hub), Shanghai and Beijing. In September 2023, the firm opened an office in New York through which it will further bolster its relationships with peer firms and clients in the US and the broader Americas regions, and provide them with efficient access to MHM’s Japan and ASEAN network.

The firm has strong working relationships with leading firms throughout Asia (as well as in Europe and the Americas), which enables it to work for its clients as a single, integrated team.

The Firm’s Professionals

MHM has over 740 lawyers and 680 support staff including patent attorneys, licensed tax accountants, legal assistants and translators. Its senior lawyers include highly respected practitioners and leaders from the Japanese and international legal community, including prominent law professors from the University of Tokyo, and a former Prosecutor-General from the Public Prosecutors Office. The firm also has experienced lawyers qualified in the US, England and Wales, the People’s Republic of China, Bangladesh, the Philippines, India, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and more.

Main Areas of Practice

Banking & Finance; Capital Markets; Capital Markets: J-REITs; Competition/Antitrust; Corporate/M&A; Crisis Management; Dispute Resolution (Domestic and International); Employment; Fintech; Insurance; Intellectual Property; International Trade; Investment Funds; Life Sciences; Projects & Energy; Real Estate; Restructuring/Insolvency; Structured Finance/Securitization; Tax; Technology, Media, Telecoms (TMT); and Wealth Management.

Recent Representations

◆Mizuho Financial Group, Inc., Japan’s leading financial services group, in the increase of its shareholding in Rakuten Securities, Inc. to 49% valued at USD 576 million

◆Daimler Truck AG in its agreement with Toyota Motor Corporation to merge their truck manufacturing subsidiaries, Hino Motors, Ltd. and Mitsubishi Fuso Truck & Bus Corporation, into a combined entity with approx. USD 15.7 billion in annual sales

◆JIC Capital, Ltd., Japan’s government-backed investment fund, in its acquisition of JSR Corporation in a transaction valued at USD 6.3 billion

◆Bain Capital, LP in its sale of Nichii Holdings Co., Ltd., the parent company of nursing care provider Nichiigakkan Co., Ltd., to Nippon Life Insurance Company in a transaction valued at USD 1.41 billion

◆Z Holdings Co., Ltd. in merging messaging app provider Line Corporation and internet portal operator Yahoo Japan Corporation

◆Japan Post Holdings Co., Ltd., Japan Post Bank Co., Ltd., and Japan Post Insurance Co., Ltd. in their JPY 1.43 trillion concurrent global initial public offerings and global follow-on offerings

◆Integral Corporation in its JPY 20 billion global initial public offering in 2023

◆NTT Finance Corporation in its JPY 1 trillion senior notes offering and USD 7 billion senior notes and EUR 2 billion senior notes offering

◆Nippon Prologis REIT, Inc. in its JPY 25 billion global follow-on offering in 2023

◆Enex Infrastructure Investment Corporation in its JPY 5 billion and JPY 12 billion follow-on offerings in 2023

◆Japan Bank for International Cooperation on all of its derivatives transactions

◆Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. on healthcare crisis management issues of its red yeast rice (benikoji) supplement

◆Toshiba Corporation in lawsuits brought by former or current shareholders in tort alleging “improper” disclosure of financial information in past years

◆Japan Post in prominent class-action types of litigation under the Employment Contract Act filed with the Sapporo, Tokyo, Osaka, Hiroshima, Kochi, Fukuoka and Nagasaki District Courts. Around 180 employees with fixed-term employment contracts are plaintiffs.

◆Fortitude Reinsurance Company Ltd. in a USD 4 billion annuity reinsurance transaction with Taiyo Life Insurance Company

◆Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) in its project assisting Japanese companies’ businesses in China from local economic security and export control perspectives

◆Sawai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., one of the leading generic pharmaceutical companies in Japan, in its investigation by a special investigation committee

◆MUFG Bank, Ltd. and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation as mandated lead arrangers in their arrangement of the largest-ever project finance in Japan for the development of an integrated resort (including casino facilities) in Osaka by Orix Corporation and MGM Resorts International

◆Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P.’s acquisition of Unizo Hotel Company and its portfolio of 14 hotel properties

◆Out-of-court corporate workout (Turnaround ADR) of Nichi-Iko Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., one of the leading generic pharmaceutical companies in Japan listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, which faced a severe cash shortage mainly due to a business suspension order from the government arising out of its quality issues and its US subsidiary’s poor performance. The firm successfully represented the company in its debt/capital restructuring in Japan and the US.

◆Founder of Sazaby League, Ltd. and another company in a first-ever tax dispute regarding the fair value of class stock, obtaining a favorable National Tax Tribunal decision ordering the rescission in full of the Japanese tax authority’s disposition for taxation of at least JPY 8 billion

◆JIC Capital, Ltd. in its acquisition of Shinko Electric Industries Co., Ltd., the chip-packaging unit of Fujitsu Limited, for JPY 684.9 billion

◆Other international law firms and clients in relation to disputes and compliance matters in Myanmar, including providing advice and expert opinions on Myanmar law (including, recently, Myanmar contract law, foreign exchange regulations, telecommunications regulations, oil and gas law, insolvency law, and enforcement of international arbitral awards).

◆Myanmar Agro Exchange Public Co., Ltd. in its listing on the Yangon Stock Exchange. This is the first listing to be approved in Myanmar since 2020 and the eighth overall.

◆Hankyu Hanshin Holdings, Inc. in its acquisition of 100% shares of OS Co., Ltd., a Japanese listed company, via tender offer and squeeze-out procedures

◆Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) in its capital and business alliance agreement between MUFG Bank, Ltd. and WealthNavi Inc., worth over JPY 15.6 billion

◆Numerous founders and their families of Japanese listed companies and major non-listed companies in their private matters

◆The Chugoku Electric Power Co., Inc. in its investment in renewable energy project companies in Vietnam, comprising three companies carrying out solar power projects and a company operating a hydropower project

◆Mizuho Bank, Ltd.’s USD 125 million investment in Kredivo Holdings Ltd., a provider of digital financial services under the Kredivo brand mainly operating in the Republic of Indonesia

◆Levanta Renewables, a renewable energy platform for Actis, on its acquisition of 90% controlling shareholding in a 139.4MWp solar power project portfolio in Thailand from Super Energy Corporation PCL

◆Syndicated lenders in financing the 1,460MW Luang Prabang hydropower project, the largest hydroelectric investment by Thai sponsors in the Lao PDR