Three of Japan’s largest law firms – Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu, Nishimura & Asahi and Mori Hamada & Matsumoto – have advised on a USD3.4 billion syndicated loan agreement to fund the construction of the country’s first integrated casino resort valued at USD8 billion.
The agreement was struck between Osaka IR Corporation and a bank syndicate led by MUFG Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation in what Nikkei reported as the largest co-financing arrangement in Japan to date.
Osaka IR, established in December 2021, is a joint venture between US casino operator MGM Resorts International and Japanese financial services firm ORIX Corporation. In September last year, the Osaka Prefectural Government signed an agreement with Osaka IR to build an integrated resort with Japan’s first casino on Yumeshima Island in Osaka Bay scheduled to open around autumn 2030.
Partners Akemi Suzuki and Tomohiro Koyasu of Nagashima Ohno advised MGM on the co-financing agreement. Partners Hiroshi Niinomi, Tomohiro Sato, Tomohiro Takagi and Nobuaki Mori of Nishimura & Asahi represented ORIX in the deal.
Mori Hamada, which has acted for the bank syndicate according to a person with knowledge of the deal, has declined a request for comment.
