Event Detail

The triple disaster of earthquake, tsunami and radiation has had a

significant impact on the M&A market in Japan, especially when combined

with the ever-appreciating yen. The short-term result has been a surge

in outbound acquisitions by Japanese companies and a significant

decline, from already low levels, in inbound acquisitions by foreign

companies. We have convened three leading M&A advisors (Kensaku Bessho,

Managing Director of Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities; Tadashi

Waki, Senior Executive Partner at Accenture; and Hidehiro Utsumi, a

partner with TMI Associates) to discuss the current state of the M&A

market in Japan, with a particular focus on opportunities for foreign

investors. The panelists, moderated by Yasuhiro Kikuchi, Vice President

in the Global Advisory Group at Mizuho Securities, will cover topics

including:



- investment opportunities in connection with reconstruction efforts in

Tohoku and other regional investment opportunities, including the

METI-sponsored Japan Regional Initiative 2010-2011

- whether the surge of outbound acquisitions by Japanese companies

presents opportunities for foreign investment into Japan

- opportunities in responding to Japan's changing energy policies

- industry sectors that remain active for inbound M&A, such as

pharmaceuticals

- whether private equity activity in Japan is likely to give rise to

inbound investment opportunities



Below are the profiles of each speaker.



Kensaku Bessho is a Managing Director in the Mergers & Acquisitions

Advisory Group of Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co., Ltd.

Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, he was at Arthur Andersen Corporate

Finance Group and at the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan as staff of

Overseas Business Division. He holds a BA in Economics from Keio

University and a CPA certificate from the state of Illinois. Some of his

most recent transactions include Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and

Industry's sale of its stake in Japan Papua New Guinea Petroleum Company

to JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration Corporation (2011) and Nippon Life's

acquisition of a 26.0% stake in Reliance Life (2011).



Tadashi Waki is a Senior Executive Partner at Accenture. He has 16 years

of extensive management consulting experience including large scale

cross border M&A, post-merger integration, R&D, sales marketing,

production, and innovation in Japan, APAC, the EU and the U.S. Prior to

Accenture, he was a Partner at McKinsey and President of his own

management consulting company.



Hidehiro Utsumi is a partner at TMI Associates practicing in many areas

including M&A, Corporate and Tax law and advised Volkswagen Group on its

investment in Suzuki and Vodafone on its JPY1.8 trillion sale of its

Japanese subsidiary to SoftBank, which was the largest LBO and corporate

takeover in Japan, both as Japanese lead counsel. He is a graduate of

the University of Tokyo and the Harvard and University of New York

schools of law (LL.M. in Internal Taxation) and currently an Adjunct

Professor at Waseda Law School and used to be an Adjunct Professor at

Waseda Business School.



Yasuhiro Kikuchi is a Vice President in the Global Advisory Group at

Mizuho Securities Co., Ltd. and is mainly in charge of cross-border M&A

transactions. He has been working in the Global Investment Banking Division of Mizuho for 12 years, and prior to joining the Global

Advisory Group had been engaged in structured finance including M&A fi