JPMorgan
A few foreign investment banks are smiling in Japan right now, benefiting from a new wave of corporate governance and investor activism that has led to conglomerates starting to hive off non-core businesses and focus on what they are really good at. The result: vibrant M&A opportunities.
Among the Americans – and it really is the Americans who lead the field in foreign investment banking in Japan – JPMorgan stands out for the range of transactions it has been involved in.
The headline deal was Takeda Pharmaceutical’s $62 billion stock and cash acquisition of Shire, for which JPMorgan was the financial adviser before also being lead arranger, lead bookrunner and administrative agent for Takeda’s $31 billion bridge facility.
Other M&A assignments in the last 12 months have included being lead financial adviser to Idemitsu Kosan on its business combination with Showa Shell through a $3.8 billion share exchange, and advising JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy on the sale of its cell culture media business, Irvine Scientific, to Fujifilm.
In the capital markets, JPMorgan has been active in all disciplines. Equity capital markets highlights over the last two years have included being joint global coordinator and joint bookrunner in both the Japanese and international tranches of Japan Post’s $3.2 billion follow-on offering, joint global coordinator for SoftBank’s Y2.65 trillion ($24 billion) global IPO and advising Altaba on the capital markets sale of much of its holdings in Yahoo Japan to SoftBank. DCM has included leading a $910 million 144a/RegS hybrid bond for Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance – it is consistently strong in hybrids – and a $1.5 billion three-tranche bond for Toyota.
Senior country officer Steve Teru Rinoie and investment banking head Masataka Yamada run a business with strength across the board.
Asiamoney decided to consider Morgan Stanley as a special case this year, since its joint venture with MUFG in Japan includes both international and local expertise.