Mori Hamada & Matsumoto

Managing Partners: Hajime Tanahashi, Koichiro Iida, Yuto Matsumura
Number of partners: 140
Number of lawyers: 529
Languages: Japanese, English, Mandarin, French, German, Korean, Thai, Bahasa (Malay and Indonesia), Myanmar, Vietnamese

Firm Overview:
Mori Hamada & Matsumoto (MHM) is one of the largest full-service Japan headquartered 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. The firm has over 520 lawyers and the firm’s senior lawyers include a number of 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 of the Public Prosecutors Office.

The firm also has experienced lawyers qualified from non-Japanese jurisdictions, such as the US, England and Wales, the People’s Republic of China, the Philippines, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar and Thailand.

MHM has expanded domestically by opening offices in Fukuoka, Osaka and Nagoya. The firm has established a strong presence in Asia by opening offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore, Bangkok, Yangon, Ho Chi Minh City and a Jakarta Desk (AKSET Law MHM Jakarta Desk). The leading law firm in Thailand, Chandler & Thong-ek Law Offices Limited integrated its operations with the Bangkok office on 1st January 2017 under the name Chandler MHM Limited. Such wide-ranging expertise and diversified experience enables the firm to provide clients exemplary service in a timely and efficient manner.

Main Areas of Practice:
■ Banking & Finance
■ Capital Markets (including JREIT)
■ Competition/Antitrust
■ Construction
■ Corporate/M&A
■ Dispute Resolution
■ Employment
■ FinTech
■ Insurance
■ Intellectual Property
■ Investment Funds
■ Projects & Energy
■ Real Estate
■ Restructuring/Insolvency
■ Structured Finance/Securitisation
■ Tax
■ Wealth Management
■ Labour

Recent Representations:
The firm’s recent representations have included:
■ Hitachi in its sale of the shares in Clarion to French company Faurecia via tender offer
■ Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation in its tender offer to acquire all shares in NTT Urban Development (NTTUD)
■ KKR/Calsonic in the acquisition of Magneti Marelli from FIAT
■ Baring Private Equity Asia in its acquisition of Pioneer Corporation
■ Showa Shell in its business Integration with Idemitsu Kosan
■ Japan Post Holdings Co., Ltd., Japan Post Bank Co., Ltd., and Japan Post Insurance Co., Ltd. in the JPY1.43 trillion concurrent global initial public offering of all three government-owned issuers
■ SoftBank Corp in its JPY2.6 trillion global initial public offering
■ Techpoint, Inc. in its initial public offering, the first JDR listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange
■ Toyota Industries Corporation in its USD1 billion debut global bond offering
■ China Construction Bank in the listing of its JPYdenominated bonds to the TOKYO PRO-BOND Market
■ Google in its acquisition of land for its first data center in Japan
■ UBS Asset Management in launching an investment venture to invest in residential properties in Japan
■ Johnson & Johnson in its acquisition of all the outstanding shares of Ci:z Holdings, the parent company of the Dr. Ci:Labo skin care brand
■ Nippon Life Insurance Company on its joint venture to operate a life insurance business with Grand Guardian Insurance Holding Public Company Limited following the opening of the sector to foreign investment in Myanmar, under which it subscribed for a 35% equity stake worth USD21 million in Grand Guardian Nippon Life Insurance Co., Ltd
■ Japan ICOM, the real estate developer, in restructuring through the civil rehabilitation proceedings
■ Japan Post Co., Ltd. in its litigations in Tokyo and Osaka filed by its fixed-term employees represented by the second large labor union seeking compensation based on the allegation of ‘equal pay for equal work’ doctrine
■ Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, Limited. as the mandated lead arranger in the project finance for Kumamoto Airport concession project
■ Daio Paper Corporation in a lawsuit brought by one of the biggest shareholders regarding the issuance of the convertible bonds