Since the dawn of structured finance transactions in Japan, Mori Hamada & Matsumoto has played a major role in a number of challenging transactions that were the first of their kind in Japan. The firm has advised on transactions ranging from traditional securitized and liquidated products backed by receivables, such as account receivables, lease receivables, credit card receivables and loans (residential mortgages and consumer loan receivables), to more innovative transactions such as securitizations of nonperforming loans, commercial mortgage-backed securities, collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) and synthetic CDOs. Lately, the firm has been increasingly handling innovative transactions involving intellectual property and whole business securitizations.

Mori Hamada & Matsumoto also handles a wide range of transactions that originate in the private sphere and that are publicly financed, including fiscal investment and loan programs (FILPs). The firm is also active in project finance, including large urban redevelopment projects, private finance initiative (PFI) projects, and public finance projects.

The current trend in the structured finance area is transactions involving both corporate finance and asset/project finance (such as M&A or MBO transactions by way of business securitization techniques). In these transactions, Mori Hamada & Matsumoto significantly contributes to designing and proposing new transaction schemes, taking full advantage of tools designated under the Companies Act, such as class shares and stock acquisition rights. Further, the firm is active in analyzing and reviewing legal issues arising in new areas or transactions such as transaction schemes involving covered bonds and self-administered trusts.

The firm's expertise enables it to handle all aspects of structured finance transactions: advising on designing transaction schemes, analyzing or reviewing legal issues in connection with relevant laws and regulations, preparing agreements and disclosure documents for investors, negotiating with rating agencies and other relevant players, and preparing legal opinion letters.

The firm's structured finance practice is substantially characterized by the firm providing creative services in a complex practice area. The essence of our practice is not only to offer theoretical arguments but also to provide practical solutions.