Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (BTMU) has announced its first-ever panel for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), with eight leading City firms appointed after a process described as ‘extremely competitive’.
Allen & Overy (A&O), Linklaters and Ashurst won places, alongside Berwin Leighton Paisner, Hogan Lovells, Norton Rose Fulbright, Slaughter and May, and White & Case.
BTMU has also created a separate, confidential transactional panel on which the preferred firms have won a place, alongside ‘other market-leading firms in a range of different practice areas’, which the bank would not disclose.
Born of a merger between the Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi and UFJ Bank in 2006, BTMU approached a number of firms to apply for the panel, with an initial deadline of September.
A&O has done substantial work for the bank in the past, including advising BTMU and Mitsubishi UFJ Securities International in 2011 on the purchase of The Royal Bank of Scotland’s £3bn project finance portfolio.
In July this year, the firm also advised on the submission of a voluntary offer for Thailand’s major commercial Bank of Ayudhya, which was valued at $5.75bn, making it the largest-ever acquisition by a Japanese bank in Asia.
Linklaters has also advised the bank before, including on its $3bn refinancing of Abu Dhabi National Energy.
A statement from the bank on 19 November said: ‘We are delighted to announce the appointment of the first legal panel of EMEA for BTMU. The process itself has been highly rewarding and extremely competitive, and has resulted in a preferred firms panel and a transactional panel. We are very pleased with the outcome of the tender process and would like to thank all the firms involved in the process for their hard work and co-operation.’
The move comes as Japanese banks have significantly strengthened their overseas lending position, as European banks have been hit hard by the financial crisis and tighter regulations.
According to The Financial Times, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group – of which BTMU is the core retail and commercial banking arm – increased overseas lending by 21% in 2011/12 to ¥19,900bn compared with ¥16,400bn in 2010/11.