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Junya Suzuki

Junya Suzuki

Counsel
Baker & McKenzie (Gaikokuho Joint Enterprise)

Biography

Junya Suzuki is a member of Baker McKenzie's Corporate/M&A Practice Group in Tokyo.

Practice Focus

Junya has extensive experience in domestic and cross-border M&A transactions, corporate restructuring and reorganization and venture investment. He is also well-versed in insolvency, liquidation, business closure and distressed transactions. Junya has been recognized in his areas of expertise by INSOL International, The Legal 500 and The Best Lawyers.

His lengthy secondment at the London office helped prepare him to offer the corporate, commercial and compliance advice he is often called upon to provide to Japanese companies investing, or wishing to expand into or invest in, the EMEA market.

Representative Legal Matters

M&A and joint ventures

  • Advised CTBC Bank Co., Ltd. in its acquisition of The Tokyo Star Bank, Limited.
  • Advised Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing Company, Limited in relation to its acquisition of General Electric Group's Leasing Business in Japan.
  • Advised Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd. (also known as Foxconn) and other investors in relation to their investments in Sharp Corporation (awarded M&A Deal of the Year at the International Financial Law Review (IFLR) Asia Awards 2017 and Asian-MENA Counsel - In-House Community Deal of the Year 2016).
  • Advised Yanmar Holdings Co., Ltd. in relation to its acquisition of Terex Corporation's European compact construction equipment business.
  • Advised a global electronic components company in Japan in relation to its acquisition of a global technology company's battery business in Japan.
  • Advised Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation on its acquisition of Oxford Instruments plc's atomic spectroscopy product business division.
  • Advised a leading Japanese electronics company on its acquisition of a European electronics company's global power grid business.
  • Advised Pacifico Energy on its sale of a majority stake in its offshore wind business to SSE Renewables.
  • Advised a multinational household appliance manufacturer on its transaction with a Japanese electronics company forming a global appliance business joint venture.
  • Advised a Japanese industrial equipment manufacturer on its disposal of its UK industrial printing business.
  • Advised Mitsubishi Electric Corporation on its investment in an SiC business subsidiary of Coherent Corp.

Venture investment

  • Advised Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Company, Limited on its strategic partnership with Hippo Enterprises Inc.

     

Restructuring & insolvency

  • Represented a leading technology company listed on the NYSE in a major Japanese semi-conductor manufacturer's Japanese corporate reorganization proceedings.
  • Represented a European financial institution in a major Japanese shipping company's Japanese civil rehabilitation proceedings.
  • Acting for Westinghouse group as Japanese legal counsel in connection with the company's global insolvency and restructuring.
  • Representing Takata Corporation as debtor counsel with respect to its civil rehabilitation proceedings and advising Takata group in relation to US Chapter 11 and 15 proceedings.
  • Represented a major foreign airline company as debtor counsel in filing a petition with the Tokyo District Court to seek recognition of and assistance for the company's foreign reorganization proceeding pursuant to the Act on Recognition of and Assistance for Foreign Insolvency Proceedings.
  • Represented a domestic airline company as debtor counsel in filing a petition for commencement of bankruptcy proceedings.

Professional Honors

  • Ones to Watch in Japan, Corporate and Mergers and Acquisitions Law, The Best Lawyers in Japan™ (2024)
  • Rising Star, Restructuring And Insolvency: International Firms And Joint Ventures, The Legal 500 Japan (2024)
  • Young Practitioner Spotlight 2022, INSOL International (recognized as one of around sixty rising stars in the global restructuring market — the sole Japanese practitioner so honored)

Professional Associations and Memberships

  • Tokyo Bar Association – Member
  • Law Society of England and Wales – Member
  • American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI) – Member
  • INSOL International – Member
  • Japanese Federation of Insolvency Professionals (JFIP) – Member
  • The Business Law Department of Hitotsubashi University Graduate School of Law – Lecturer (2022)

Admissions

  • England & Wales (2019)
  • New York~United States (2017)
  • Japan (2009)

Education

  • MIT Sloan Executive Education (Digital Business Strategy course) (2019)
  • University of Virginia School of Law (LLM) (2015)
  • The University of Tokyo Graduate Schools for Law and Politics (JD) (2008)
  • The University of Tokyo (LLB) (2006)

Languages

  • English
  • Japanese

Previous Offices

  • London

Publications

  • Co-author, “Inherent Conflict between Arbitration and Bankruptcy – US/UK’s Endeavors Towards Harmonization and Their Practical Implications for Japanese Law,” JCA Journal, Japan Commercial Arbitration Association, August 2021
  • Co-author, "Recent Trends in Distressed M&A - Business Acquisitions under Section 363 of the US Bankruptcy Code," Business Homu, Chuokeizai-sha, November 2020
  • Co-author, "Recovery of Trade Debts Q&A: Japan," Practical Law, Thomson Reuters, 2020
  • Co-author, "An Overview of the Spanish Insolvency Law," The Turnaround & Credit Management, KINZAI, July 2018
  • Co-author, "An Overview and Analysis of the American Bankruptcy Institute’s Recommendations on the Reform of Chapter 11," parts 1, 2, and 3, Journal of the Japanese Institute of International Business Law, The Japan Institute of International Business Law, Inc., December 2015, January 2016, February 2016
  • Co-author, "Practices to Prove an Inability to Pay Debts in Preference Avoidance Actions — an Analysis of the Tokyo District Court's Decision on February 14, 2013," The Turnaround & Credit Management, KINZAI, July 2014