Davis Polk partner Ken Lebrun discussed the increase in deal activity in the Japanese private equity markets as well as how local assets are becoming especially attractive to foreign investors with Law.com International.

The article notes that many global funds have localized to accommodate Japanese markets.

“The major funds all have very local teams. They make doing deals easy,” Ken explained. “They want to seem like the user-friendly option so that other companies will be willing to do the next deal with them.”

When asked about the competitive landscape for legal work in Japan and how that impacts international firms, Ken said, “The leading private equity firms know that the best Japanese legal talent is at the Japanese law firms and so you see them using the top Japanese firms on the most significant deals in the market. They just want the best talent so I think that plays to our strengths as we don’t compete with the local firms, we work with the leading Japanese firms and those are the deals that we traditionally work on.”

“Japan’s PE Market Is the Bright Spot That Asia Needs. But Will Law Firms Step Up to the Plate?” Law.com International (June 26, 2024) (subscription required) 

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