By Toby Geoghegan, Reuters

Freshfields and Thai counsel Hunton & Williams have advised Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance on its purchase of a 15 percent stake worth about $700 million in Thai Life Insurance, which was advised by Baker & McKenzie.

The Freshfields team was led by Tokyo-based partners Ed Cole and Junzaburo Kiuchi.

Meiji Yasuda, Japan's second-largest life insurer by premium income after Nippon Life Insurance, beat Sumitomo Life Insurance to enter final negotiations in an auction that also attracted private equity firms Carlyle Group LP, KKR & Co and CVC Capital Partners.

Meiji Yasuda's purchase will make it the fourth financial services acquisition by a Japanese firm in Southeast Asia this year, bringing the year-to-date total value of Japanese M&A deals in the region to $6.6 billion.

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