IFLR 1000
The Guide to the World's Leading Financial Law Firms

Nicknamed "the rainmaker" by one of his rivals, Toru Ishiguro, along with an impressive ambit of partners, continues to generate exemplary deals despite the earthquake. September 2010 saw Ishiguro along with Yasuhiko Fujitsu advise Mitsubishi Corporation in its issuance of $500 million of five year US dollar denominated unsecured straight bonds. This marked the corporation's first public offering in a foreign market of US dollar denominated unsecured straight bonds in 25 years. The deal, which was almost eight times oversubscribed, led to Mitsubishi issuing US dollar denominated unsecured straight bonds in February 2011 under the same conditions as those issued previously. The bond continued to perform favourably in the secondary market due to strong demand.

Another highlight saw the firm acting as counsel to Nomura Holdings in the first US dollar denominated sukuk (Islamic bond) for a Japanese corporation issued out of Malaysia. The deal, valued at $100 million, paves a new path for Japanese corporations to diversify their funding sources by tapping into overseas Islamic finance markets. Participating in such a deal shows Mori Hamada's extensive capabilities.

"We believe Mori Hamada & Matsumoto is very positive for doing new types of transactions," says a local banking client, impressed with the firm's proclivity for creating novel financing structures.

At the beginning of the year, the firm's structured finance and securitisation team began to see more activity in its deal pipeline. These transactions have kept the practice busy and solidified its status as a go-to firm for high-end structured financing work. The well respected and experienced Masanori Sato and Takahiro Kobayashi lead the practice.

One area the firm hopes to capitalise on is the burgeoning Islamic finance scene in Japan. Last summer, Susumu Masuda, Naoki Ishikawa and Taro Omoto advised Nomura Holdings on the very first dollar-denominated sukuk (Islamic bond) for a Japanese company. It was issued out of Malaysia and valued at $100 million. This year, a team worked with Japan Airlines (JAL) on its refinancing that was necessary for it to complete its corporate reorganisation procedure. This was very high profile and followed closely by the domestic media. The Mori Hamada team assisted the airline to refinance its financial debt of ¥255 billion ($3.3 billion), achieving this under new loan documents entered into with 11 major Japanese lenders. Once this refinancing was complete, the Tokyo District Court declared the completion of JAL's corporate reorganisation process.

Mori Hamada & Matsumoto continues its focus on loan arrangements, acquisition financings and buyouts. A Japanese client says its team has "sufficient expertise" and that its lawyers are "diligent and hard-working".

March 2011 saw the firm advising the Carlyle Group's acquisition of Tsubaki Nakashima from Nomura Principal Finance, one of the largest private equity acquisitions in Japan since the Lehman collapse.

In one exemplary deal, Gaku Ishiwata, Akira Marumo and Hiroki Aoyama advised and represented Japan Airlines (JAL) with regards to its refinancing transaction to complete its corporate reorganisation procedure. This is the largest Japanese insolvency case of a non-financial sector company and was valued at approximately ¥617 billion ($8 billion). This precedence setting case provides a new roadmap for an insolvent debtor in Japan to expeditiously recover from financial difficulties.

"I recommend Mori Hamada very much because not only is it quality but this quality includes the lawyers themselves, their character," praises a corporate client. "Its quality is very good. Its fees are reasonable, but the first and most important thing to me is quality. They have many good lawyers."

With a star roster of corporate practitioners, Mori Hamada & Matsumoto sits comfortably at the top of the rankings. It boasts being lead counsel on a number of complex and precedent-setting acquisitions, which highlights the team's activity on the most interesting deals in the market. A Japanese corporate client commends the firm for having "a lot of experience with M&A issues between Japanese companies and companies in Asia".

In one, the first cross-border "in-out" triangular merger using the stock of a Japanese corporation for the acquisition of a non-Japanese corporation, Hajime Tanahashi and Atsushi Oishi advised DeNA, a Japan-based e-commerce company, on its acquisition of Ngmoco, a US-based developer of iPhone games and applications for $361 million. In another prominent transaction, Asahi Breweries turned to the firm for advice in its acquisition of a 6.54% stake in Taiwan-based Ting Hsin for $520 million.

Even top private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) relied on a Mori Hamada team when it paid $380 million to acquire Japan-based recruitment consultancy, Intelligence from Usen.

Being approachable and accessible is a quality of the firm clients emphasise. "The lawyers are easy to contact, which is very due to the time sensitive natures of M&A transactions," one says. "They are very, very easy to talk to. I can talk with those lawyers by mobile phone so I can contact very very quickly. That's a very important point in choosing a firm."