Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and Nishimura & Asahi have advised Japanese flea market app operator Mercari on its $1.2 billion IPO, the nation’s biggest such share sale so far this year.
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Mori Hamada & Matsumoto advised the lead managers as international and Japanese law counsel, respectively.
Mercari, which offers a popular smartphone app that allows people to trade used items online, is the country’s third-largest tech listing in the past five years - behind the $3.2 billion raised by Japan Display in 2014 and the $1.3 billion by Line Corp in 2016 - according to Thomson Reuters data.
Founded in 2013, Mercari was Japan’s first unicorn - a startup with a valuation above $1 billion - in a country that boasts numerous successful giant corporations but lacks a vibrant startup culture, said Reuters. It added that according to data provider CB Insights, Mercari and information technology startup Preferred Networks are the only two unicorns in Japan.
The Skadden team on the IPO was led by partner Kenji Taneda.
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