Nishimura & Asahi and Mori Hamada & Matsumoto, two of Japan’s largest law firms, are advising on the country’s life insurance giant Dai-ichi Life Holdings’ JPY292 billion (USD2 billion) acquisition of Japanese employee benefits provider Benefit One from its parent Pasona Group via a tender offer.
Pasona, a Japanese multinational corporation specialising in employment and staff solutions, said in a February 8 filing that it had reached an agreement accepting Dai-ichi Life’s offer and agreeing to sell its entire 51% stake in Benefit One to the target.
The Tokyo-based employment and staff solutions company also said in the filing that, by accepting Dai-ichi Life’s offer of JPY2,173 (USD14.5) per share, it had terminated its share tender agreement with Japanese digital healthcare provider M3.
Dai-ichi Life, whose tender offer lasts from February 9 to March 11 this year to take Tokyo Stock Exchange-listed Benefit One private, has mandated Nishimura & Asahi as legal counsel, with the firm’s team being led by Tokyo-based partners Yamato Nozawa and Junya Kokaji.
On the target side, Benefit One, which has 1.38% of its shares owned by the Norwegian government, has been seeking legal advice from Mori Hamada. The Tokyo-based law firm has declined our request for information on its involvement in the deal.
Dai-ichi Life’s tender offer launch for Benefit One has come just days after Japanese telecom giant KDDI announced its plan to acquire Lawson, one of Japan’s largest convenience store operators, via a JPY496.5 billion (USD3.3 billion) tender offer. In this transaction, Nishimura & Asahi has also been mandated by KDDI as its legal counsel.
