CashNews.co
Nishimura & Asahi has become the only one among Japan’s five largest law firms to launch a direct branch office in Hong Kong, mainly targeting Japanese corporations with subsidiaries or branches in the global financial centre.
Ryuichi Sakamoto, a finance partner and the representative of Nishimura & Asahi’s Hong Kong office, tells Law.asia that there is currently demand among Japanese companies in the city for legal advice in matters regarding privacy law, litigation and M&A transactions in Southeast Asia.
Sakamoto says: “A typical example of the latter is that the target company group of an M&A has a Southeast Asia headquarters and a subsidiary in Hong Kong. We can handle those transactions by collaborating with our firm’s branch offices in Southeast Asia.”
Having already received approval from the Hong Kong Law Society for the office launch, the Tokyo-based law firm is now in the middle of preparing for the office opening and can start its business on the ground in the next few months, Law.asia has learned.
In Southeast Asia, Nishimura & Asahi currently operates directly and via associations with local law firms in Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore.
The pool of Japanese companies in Hong Kong that Nishimura & Asahi is looking at currently stands around 1,400 out of some 9,000 non-Hong Kong enterprises, according to the 2023 data stated by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Tokyo. Japanese companies currently account for the largest group of overseas companies.
As of June last year, 648 Asean companies in Hong Kong accounted for about 7.2% of the total number of foreign firms in the global financial centre, according to the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, citing data released by the city’s Census and Statistics Department.
Sakamoto, who specialises in asset finance and asset management, will soon be joined by M&A and corporate lawyer Saori Okada, a former chief representative of Nishimura & Asahi’s Beijing office. Since July 2015, Okada has been practising at Hong Kong-registered Okada Law Firm, which has a business relationship with Nishimura & Asahi.
Together, they will look to grow the number of local and multinational clients, the Tokyo-based law firm’s secondary target for its Hong Kong office, who are thinking of expanding their business into Japan.
Sakamoto explains that, in recent years, “there have been cases where companies in Hong Kong have sought advice for matters such as investing in real estate in Japan, engaging in business collaboration with Japanese companies in several areas of business as well as M&A transactions with Japanese corporations”.
The Hong Kong office representative adds that his office on the ground can support those companies with real estate law, corporate law, Japanese regulatory law, and several other fields together with the firm’s Tokyo headquarters.
In 2022, Hong Kong-based investment firm PAG acquired Huis Ten Bosch, one of Japan’s largest theme parks, from Japanese travel agency HIS for around JPY100 billion yen (USD765 million).
With these targeted opportunities in sight, Sakamoto tells Law.asia that his firm sees an advantage of having its own office in the global financial centre, rather than establishing an office in association with a local law firm.
“By doing so, we can use our own name directly with our potential clients, including Japanese, Hong Kong and multinational companies.”
In mid-October, Nishimura & Ashai also announced its expansion in Europe with the scheduled launch of offices in London and Brussels, boosting the firm’s number of European outfits to four after those in Frankfurt and Düsseldorf.