Blake Dawson will expand its Japan team significantly in the coming months predicting  strengthening outbound M&A deals and PPP partnerships between the two countries predicted in the coming months.

According to Blake Dawson M&A practice head Ian Williams, Japanese financial stalwarts such as Nomura, Bank of Tokyo and Mitsubishi are aggressively expanding their operations in Australia – in addition to a flood of acquisition deals coming to market between the two jurisdictions.

“Japanese trading houses are active participants in PPP deals in Australia,” Williams told ALB. “We see continued strong participation in energy and resources. There is a lot of M&A work outbound from Japan with plenty of buying interest in coal mines and LNG from Japan to Australia. As a separate category the number of PPPs likely to be available for Japanese investors – whether it be constructors or equity arrangers or investors – is growing,” he said.

According to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, over US$10bn of new investment flowed from Japan into the Australian economy during the last financial year.

Japanese investment tends to get less coverage than Chinese, said Williams but Japan has traditionally been the largest investor from Asia.

The firm is set to bring an additional three lawyers to its Tokyo office in the next six months, bringing the total number to 10. The office was launched in April this year.ALB

Other related stories:

• Japan Big Four targets Southeast Asia: structural shift in Japanese client trends (5 Oct 2010)
• NO&T announces breakthrough alliance: indicative of Japanese outbound trend (5 Oct 2010)
• Japan: Foreign law firms allowed to open second office (13 May 2010)