Baker & McKenzie, and Clifford Chance acted for KDDI Corporation on its JPY 200 billion ($2.56 billion) zero coupon convertible bonds issuance; Japan’s largest deal of such bonds in years.

Mobile carrier KDDI issued the Singapore-listed bonds due 2015 to buy out all its shares from the Tokyo Electric Power Company, Incorporated (TEPCO) for 186 billion yen ($2.38 billion) as TEPCO plans to sell off assets and thereby raise funds to compensate victims of the nuclear crisis, Reuters reported., TEPCO is the operator of the Fukushima nuclear plant which was crippled by the tsunami earlier this year.

Baker & McKenzie’s Japanese joint enterprise, Baker & McKenzie GJBJ Tokyo Aoyama Aoki Koma Law Office represented KDDI in the transaction with senior counsel Kunio Aoki as the principal lawyer.

Clifford Chance’s Tokyo Capital Markets team led by partner Reiko Sakimura acted for Daiwa Capital Markets Europe Limited as lead manager and the other managers. Partner Joan Janssen led the firm’s Singapore team in advising on the Singapore listing of the convertible bonds. Partner Matt Fairclough in Hong Kong counseled Union Bank, N.A. as the trustee in respect of the convertible bonds.

Clifford Chance was also involved in the Development Bank of Japan’s (DBJ) $1 billion bond issuance earlier in October in which its Tokyo partner Reiko Sakimura, and Hong Kong partner Hyun Kim provided advice on English Law and US law respectively to the joint lead managers J.P. Morgan, HSBC and Nomura. ALB

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