Linklaters has welcomed M&A lawyer Yoshiyuki Asaoka as a partner in Tokyo from Nishimura & Asahi.

Nishimura & Asahi is advising Japanese investment company SBI Holdings on its 154 billion yen ($1.12 billion) takeover bid for its unit SBI Shinsei Bank, which is being represented by Anderson Mori & Tomotsune.

A number of major Japanese firms recently announced overseas expansion plans. While some were bolstering their existing presence in the ASEAN region, others were looking further afield - in Europe and the United States, for example – with the aim of becoming global players. ALB speaks to some of the firms about the strategic considerations underpinning their decisions, and their game plans going forward. 

Nishimura & Asahi, Japan’s largest firm, is set to open an office in Sapporo on the northern island of Hokkaido. It will be its fifth domestic office after Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, and Fukuoka.

Davis Polk & Wardwell and TMI Associates are advising a consortium led by private equity firm Japan Industrial Partners on its $15.2 billion buyout of Toshiba, with Nishimura & Asahi and Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu are acting for Toshiba.

Nishimura & Asahi and Sullivan & Cromwell are advising Rakuten Bank on its planned 106.8-billion-yen ($807 million) initial public offering on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s prime market, with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Anderson Mori & Tomostune acting for the underwriters.

Japanese law firm Atsumi & Sakai (A&S) has hired finance specialist Taku Sonoura as a partner from Nishimura & Asahi.

Vietnamese law firm Indochine Counsel has hired M&A expert Truong Huu Ngu as a partner in Ho Chi Minh City from Japan’s Nishimura & Asahi (N&A), where he was a counsel.

DLA Piper has brought on board projects and energy expert Peter Armstrong as a partner Tokyo from Japan’s Nishimura & Asahi (N&A).

The Singapore office of Japanese Big Five firm Nishimura & Asahi has entered into a strategic alliance with Malaysian firm WM Leong & Co, marking its latest expansion in the Southeast Asian region.