Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu, Mori Hamada & Matsumoto, Anderson Mori & Tomotsune, Nishimura & Asahi and Kitahama Partners are advising on Japanese trading giant Itochu Corp’s two concurrent acquisitions in the apparel and chemicals sectors at a combined value of JPY220 billion (USD1.5 billion).
Nagashima Ohno, Mori Hamada and Anderson Mori have been advising on Itochu’s move to fully acquire Japanese sportswear manufacturer Descente for JPY182.62 billion. In a separate, concurrent transaction, Nishimura & Asahi, Anderson Mori and Kitahama Partners have been mandated to advise on Itochu’s bid for full control of Japanese chemicals company CI Takiron Corp for JPY37.61 billion.
Both acquisitions, which Itochu concurrently announced on 5 August, will be conducted via a tender offer totalling JPY220 billion in combined transactional value. Together, the two deals also see the involvement of Japan’s four largest law firms – Nishimura & Asahi, Nagashima Ohno, Mori Hamada and Anderson Mori.
Through its wholly-owned subsidiary BS Investment Corp, Itochu currently owns 44.44% of Descente, which is listed on the prime market of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The Japanese trading house was set to acquire the remaining stake of more than 4 million shares, it said on .
Itochu has hired Nagashima Ohno as its legal adviser, whose team is being led by partners Tatsuya Okano, Shuichi Nishimura, Tsuyoshi Isshiki and Yu Tamura. Descente, on the other hand, has appointed Mori Hamada as its legal counsel, while the special committee set up by the target company to assess Itochu’s takeover bid has chosen Anderson Mori as its legal adviser, whose team is led by partners Hiroto Ando and Yasutaka Emoto.
In the other transaction, Itochu, which currently owns 55.49% of Tokyo Stock Exchange-listed CI Takiron, has its decision to purchase the remaining 44.31% stake in the Japanese chemicals company that it does not own. Nishimura & Asahi is advising the Japanese trading house on the acquisition, to be conducted via Itochu’s wholly-owned subsidiary API GK.
On the other hand, Anderson Mori, with partners Keiko Kaneko and Yoshitaka Sakamoto leading the team, is counselling CI Takiron. The target company’s special committee set up to review the takeover bid has mandated Kitahama Partners as its legal adviser, with partners Koji Ebato and Takuya Tome leading the team.
