Jones Day has responded to the increase in Japanese outbound M&A by appointing former Baker & McKenzie partner David Deck to its banking & finance practice.
Bilingual Deck (pictured), who specialises in securitisation, cross-border M&A and private equity transactions, was previously partner at Baker & McKenzie GJBJ Tokyo Aoyama Aoki Law Office, where he regularly advised Japanese clients on M&A.
"The acquisition of foreign companies by Japanese companies has seen a 3.7-fold increase compared with the previous year," said Nobutoshi Yamanouchi, managing partner of Jones Day's Tokyo office. "In light of globalisation in the corporate landscape, the needs of the clients do not focus solely on corporate law but have expanded to require broader legal services which can deal with domestic, foreign and a variety of other fields of law, including finance law."
The arrival of Deck, with his wealth of Japan experience, will no doubt boost the firm's prospects of expanding its domestic and cross-border advisory capabilities.
The move is among a number of recent Tokyo appointments, which includes MoFo's capture of former Linklaters chief, Squire, Sanders & Dempsey's scoop of litigator Matthew E Digby and Greenberg Traurig's appointment of corporate partner Go Hashimoto.