UK-headquartered law firm Linklaters has bolstered its corporate practice in Japan through the appointment of Tokyo-based Yoshiyuki Asaoka, effective May 22.
Peter Frost, Japan managing partner, told FinanceAsia that the new hire strengthens Linklaters’ capacity to advise clients on strategic outbound and inbound investments.
“Japan remains an incredibly active M&A market both for inbound and outbound M&A. In particular, we are seeing a very strong trend of inbound financial sponsor activity, with a particular focus on energy transition and digital transformation,” he said.
Asaoka was most recently a partner at local law firm, Nishimura & Asahi, where he spent over a decade advising on inbound and outbound M&A, strategic transactions, corporate governance, litigation and other corporate matters. His strengths lie in the financial services, energy transition and TMT sectors.
The heightened focus on corporate governance in Japan has created a more favourable environment for inbound M&A, added Tracy Whiriskey, Tokyo corporate partner and global co-head of Insurance at Linklaters.
“Enhanced corporate governance has resulted in Japanese companies more proactively managing their business portfolios, including the divestment of non-core businesses, which creates more opportunity for inbound M&A,” she told FA.
Additionally, founder succession issues have resulted in increased divestments and opportunities for private equity investors.
Other factors contributing to increased inbound M&A activity include the current geopolitical tensions, which is redirecting Asian inbound M&A towards Japan, Whiriskey said.
Finally, Linklaters sees Japanese targets as more attractive in the current macroeconomic environment. A historically weak yen has made public companies in Japan substantially undervalued compared with those in other markets, and prolonged low interest rates mean they continue to have access to cheap financing.
A rally in Japan’s stock market has boosted the Nikkei to highs not seen for over three decades.
