Asialaw Profiles
The Guide to the legal markets of the Asia-Pacific

“Bakers has strength in depth and highly effective quality assurance mechanisms in place,” says one client of Baker & McKenzie. “This translates into guaranteed availability of advice and assistance at a high quality level.” The firm has a strong domestic practice that houses leading practitioners, such as finance specialist Naoaki Eguchi, capital markets practice head Seishi Ikeda, and partner Hiroyoshi Kuromaru.

On the banking side, the team acted on a multijurisdictional deal advising ING on its agreement to team up with The Development Bank of China to provide a ¥7.5 billion (US$97.9 million) term facility to leading Indonesian auto finance company PT OTO Multiartha. On capital markets work, Kuromaru has years of experience on samurai bonds, and this has kept him busy for the past 12 months. Some of the entities he has represented include ANZ, Republic of Argentina, Barclays Capital Japan, Nikko Cordial Securities and Mizuho Securities.

With a presence in almost any part of the world combined with in-depth local knowledge, Bakers’ M&A team is led by Hiroshi Kondo and is a strong contender in the market. The firm’s unique global infrastructure is proving attractive to Japanese companies that are increasingly going overseas to expand their businesses.

Notably, it advised Nabtesco, a Japanese motion control equipment manufacturer with over half of the market share in Japan, on its acquisition of Swiss auto-door manufacturer Kaba Gilgen in April 2011. Another deal example saw the firm represent Toshiba Corporation in its acquisition of a 67% stake in Italian engineering company Ansaldo Transmissione & Distribuzione.