Atsumi & Sakai was formed in 1994 as Atsumi & Usui before adopting its current name in 2010 following the acquisition of a practice group from TMI Associates. The firm has close to 150 lawyers and offices in Tokyo, London and Frankfurt. It was the first Japanese law firm to register as a joint venture between Japanese and foreign lawyers in 2005, and in 2013 it formed a joint venture with the German law practice of Markus Janssen. In 2021, the firm launched an affiliate office in New York, Atsumi & Sakai New York.
Highlights
The firm is best known for its structured finance and securitization work, but also has a strong project development and finance practice.
Throughout the research cycle, the firm continues to advise multiple multimillion-dollar financing transactions in the banking, capital markets, M&A and project sectors. With a focus on project finance, acquisition finance and asset finance, the firm advises clients across a wide range of financing transactions and services.
A major focus of the firm's capital markets practice is to provide guidance on structuring, SPC formation, and related regulatory issues to originators, arrangers, trustees, and institutional investors.
In the past year, the project team has been involved in a number of LNG, petrochemical, coal, and mining related project development and financing activities.
The firm bolstered its corporate M&A team with the arrival of partner Go Fujimoto, who was previously from Oh-Ebashi LPC & Partners, and Aoi Koyanagi from White & Case, London.
Key clients
Key clients include Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Financial Services Agency, Mitsubishi Research Institute, The Japan Research Institute, Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting, EY Strategy and Consulting, and Photovolt Development Partners.
Testimonials
“They demonstrated their capability, knowledge and diligence.” (Project development client)
Akira Shimazaki
“Good in organizing policies for dealing with economic sanctions in project finance, commenting on various documents, preparing wording.”
“Mr. Shimazaki, who has concluded an outsourcing contract with NYK, is knowledgeable about project finance for LNG carriers and FPSOs, and has responded appropriately by the deadline, from minor consultations to time-consuming tasks such as document reviews.”
Takasuke Mizukami
“High quality advice fitting for our business policies, excellent team buildings to fit for each project.”
Mayumi Hongo
“Having wide-ranging expertise in in-house counsel and government officer, high quality advice fitting for our business policies, excellent team buildings to fit for each project.”
“She has good experience on construction project. Based on it, she helped a lot to obtain necessary licenses.”
Yutaka
Sakai
“He is perfect in advised loan agreement for the Vessels.”
