City-Yuwa Partners was formed in 2003 as a result of a merger between Yuwa Partners and the law department of Tokyo City Law & Tax Partners. The firm is based in Tokyo with the composition of 123 lawyers.
Focusses / specialisms
The firm specialised in litigation, insolvency, and real estate law but has since grown further to offer transactional services across capital markets, banking, investment funds, and project development.
Research period review:
32nd edition (2022/2023)
The firm has been active in banking, capital markets, project finance, and project development work during the research cycle.
The banking team was advising Japanese and international banks, securities firms, and financial institutions on regulatory issues and transactions. The team is also involved in structured finance related to real estate, asset finance, and joint ventures.
The firm was particularly active in the project finance area, where it has been advising lenders and borrowers on renewable energy projects such as mega solar power projects, geothermal power projects, biomass power projects, and wind power projects.
Client Feedback: 32nd edition (2022/2023)
Capital markets: Structured finance and securitisation
"Quick turnaround and response. Thorough research and analysis. Advice is to the point. Fee charged is transparent."
Project development
"The firm provides effective and advanced legal services with appropriateness and flexibility. It also has international perception and sufficient experience for cross-border transactions with exceptional services based on highly skilled self-development in the firm. It provides advanced communication skills with any parties including our bank’s customers, with provision of distinctly convenient and detailed legal services. "
Project finance
"City-Yuwa provides effective and advanced legal services with appropriateness and flexibility. The firm also has an international outlook and sufficient experience for cross-border transactions, offering exceptional service based on highly skilled self-development within the firm. The firm provides advanced communication skills with any parties including our bank’s customers, providing distinctly convenient and detailed legal services.
We were able to effectively communicate directly in both Japanese and English languages and were provided with professional legal support and services for non-recourse loans and project financings with various structures, including TK-GK as well as the TMK structure."
Yasuyuki Kuribayashi
"Quick turnaround and response. Thorough research and analysis. Advice is to the point. Fee charged is transparent."
Masamichi Sakamoto
"His involvement is mainly related to our bank’s financing transactions, from which we have been significantly impressed by him from the following perspectives. He provides appropriate decision-making in the direction of legal services for our bank with accurate legal knowledge and insight. With his extensive legal support experience, he is able to effectively support clients with innovative, advanced and flexible legal support. Even with the difficulties of converging existing structures and contractual clauses to be in line with our bank’s requirements together with transactions’ requirements, he has been able to convey this into the loan and/or financial documents.
Not only supporting his clients, he has extensively contributed to his organization through excellent leadership and teamwork by effectively coordinating and collaborating internally among his office by providing gentle and effective guidance directly to associate lawyers in the firm. Mr. Sakamoto has a wide network of connections in both Japan and overseas which he has been able to introduce appropriate collaboration offices and/or lawyers appropriately in according to the situation case-by-case basis. He has a rigorous and quite punctual time-management ability that promptly responds to our bank’s requirements even in a limited timeline and completes the tasks to be in time for the required schedule before the financial closing regardless of any obstacles and problems with him. "
"Mr Sakamoto's involvement is mainly related to our bank’s financing transactions, in which we have been significantly impressed by him from the following perspectives. He provides appropriate decision making on the direction of legal services for our bank with accurate legal knowledge and insight. With Mr Sakamoto’s extensive legal support experience, he is able to effectively support clients with innovative, advanced and flexible legal advice. Even with the difficulties around converging existing structures and contractual clauses to be in line with our bank’s requirements and the transactions’ requirements, he has been able to convey them into the loan and/or financial documents.
As well as supporting his clients he has also extensively contributed to his organization through excellent leadership and teamwork by providing gentle and effective guidance directly to associate lawyers in the firm. Mr Sakamoto has a wide network of connections in both Japan and overseas, which he has been able to use, collaborating with offices and/or lawyers appropriately according to the situation. He has a rigorous and punctual time-management ability, responding promptly to our requirements even in a limited timeframe and completing the tasks within the required schedule before the financial closing despite various obstacles and problems."
