Hogan Lovells Horitsu Jimusho Gaikokuho Kyodo Jigyo’s M&A team in Tokyo continues to offer a well-rounded corporate service to major clients in Japan covering inbound and outbound transactions in the automotive, energy, life sciences, TMT, and financial services sectors, among others. The team is noted particularly for its experience in advising leading Japanese trading houses. With over 25 years of cross-border transactional experience encompassing M&A, investments, exits, joint ventures, and restructurings, Jacky Scanlan-Dyas leads the practice alongside Wataru Kamoto, who has advised Japanese and international players on M&A and corporate issues for over 20 years. Bradley Edmister focuses on international M&A, both public and private, and joint ventures. Viet Nguyen is noted for his work on private M&A, joint ventures, and public takeovers, while Jumpei Seto’s client base includes major US and Japanese companies.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • ‘Jacky Scanlan-Dyas is the standout partner. She has an amazing ability to take on board a huge amount of information, listen to different opinions, and distil out of all that noise exactly what the key issues are and what needs doing. In my professional career, I have not met anyone else who can do this as effectively as Jacky. She then plots a course of action, aligns her team, and the results are invariably excellent.'
  • ‘Jacky and all of the HL team supported us in a very professional way. They always gave us accurate advice very quickly, which helped us to negotiate in a good position.'
  • ‘HL's M&A team in Tokyo as led by Jacky Scanlan-Dyas is experienced, reliable, professional and produces a high-quality work product. The team benefits from Jacky's strong involvement and supervision in each transaction, but also the presence of key senior members like Viet Nguyen.'
  • ‘Wataru Kamoto is accessible and engaged in projects. Also, he is quite responsive with concise and accurate analysis that satisfies the needs of clients.’
  • ‘Jacky Scanlan-Dyas is highly experienced with working with Japanese trading houses and understands the specific factors that influence our deals (internal approvals, the importance of strong conflicts management, sensitivities to certain issues, etc.,). She and her team are true professionals, bring great energy and enthusiasm to our transactions, and allow us to feel like we are in safe hands.'
  • 'Viet Nguyen is excellent to work with. He has an intuitive understanding of what is required from us and our business teams, has significant experience, a great work ethic and solid drafting skills. We can rely on him even when Jacky may not be available.’
  • ‘The team's strength is its responsiveness and efficient delivery of advice and products. The team utilizes its global network in cross-border transactions.'

  • ‘My interactions with the team at Hogan Lovells have always been entirely effective as well as pleasant. They pull together the right team in each case while maintaining key people so I have a consistent experience. They manage to reconcile the needs of my home office (in the US) with local (Japanese) legal requirements smoothly and effectively. They always look for extra ways in which they can help in some way, be that technical assistance or leveraging their extensive local network. With their combination of utmost professionalism and genuine collegiality, we will continue to work with Hogan every time.'

Key clients

  • Virbac
  • Samvardhana Motherson International Limited
  • Nichirei Logistics Group Inc.
  • Daicel Corporation
  • Mitsubishi Motors Corporation
  • Sojitz Corporation
  • Booking.com
  • Kenedix
  • Arclands Corporation

Work highlights

  • Advised Samvardhana Motherson International Limited, a leading global automotive component manufacturer, on the signing of an agreement via its subsidiary, SAHN BV, to acquire an 81% stake in Yachiyo Industry Co., Ltd., a TSE-listed subsidiary of Honda Motors Co., Ltd that produces value-added and next-generation automotive products including sunroofs, fuel tanks, and other plastic automotive components.
  • Advised Japanese leading trading house Sojitz Corporation on its investment in Hycamite TCD Technologies Oy (Hycamite).
  • Advised Daicel Corporation, a leading Japanese diversified chemical company, on its strategic investment in PharmaJet®, the global leader in needle-free technology

Lawyers

Leading associates: Gaiben
Leading associates with regular involvement in their team's key work, and recognition from peers or clients as being ones to watch.
Viet Nguyen
Viet Nguyen
Hogan Lovells Horitsu Jimusho Gaikokuho Kyodo Jigyo
Leading partners: Gaiben
The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

Jacky Scanlan-Dyas, Wataru Kamoto

Other key lawyers

Bradley Edmister, Viet Nguyen, Jumpei Seto