Associate

Keisuke Iwata

Banking & Finance, Projects & Infrastructure

Tokyo +81 3 4563 1437

keisuke.iwata@mayerbrown.com

Overview

Keisuke Iwata is an associate in Mayer Brown's Tokyo office. He is dual-qualified in England & Wales and in Singapore and has experience working in three financial centres of Asia, namely Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Japanese and other clients turn to Kei for help on cross-border development projects and associated financing, while he also acts regularly for leading international banks in structured finance and securitization transactions. Reflecting the diversity and complexity of issues surrounding investments into emerging economies, his prior experience extends to white-collar malpractice investigations and joint venture disputes as well as a multi-billion dollar insolvency case involving offshore financial centres.

Prior to pursuing a career in law, Kei worked as a journalist for Kyodo News Group, mainly residing in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong and covering business and economy news as a foreign correspondent. He holds, besides his law degree, a master’s degree in the field of international relations.

Experience

Projects, structured finance, derivatives

Acted for a Japanese export credit agency in connection with a USD480 million import loan facility agreement with a Brazilian iron ore producer.
Acted for a Japanese trading house as an offtaker in connection with a US blue ammonia project, including an offtake agreement and a corresponding down-stream supply agreement.
Assisted a HK-listed oil and gas company in a USD150 mil. structured financing project involving funding based on crude oil development rights.
Acted for a Hong Kong government entity in an interest rate swap hedging arrangement in connection with HK$4 bil. (USD500 mil.) facilities received to fund its urban development mandates.
Supported documentation of total return swaps for an APAC-based financial institution as a lender/investor in relation to restructuring of its minority stakes in various projects held through offshore vehicles.

Assisted a HK-listed holding company of PRC-based utilities and consumer goods providers in relation to interest rate and currency swaps to hedge FX risks associated with the projects revenues in RMB against its USD-denominated bonds.

Corporate trustee counsel

Represented a NY-headquartered global banking group's APAC corporate trustee team in various large-scale debt financing projects, including:
- USD1.5 bil. exchangeable bonds issuance by a PRC-based IT giant;
- USD1 bil. corporate bonds issuance by a Japanese telecommunications company;
- established private equity funds' various funding projects based on a cross-border margin loan facility secured by listed Japanese shares.
Represented a Hong Kong-based global banking group's corporate trustee team in various large-scale debt financing projects, including:
- HKD1.5 bil. asset-backed securities issuance by a Hong Kong-based private credit;
- HKD2.3 bil. convertible bonds issuance by a HK-listed online video platform operator;
- High-yield bonds issuance, destressed bonds exchange, associated consent solicitation projects by various PRC-based real estate developers.
Represented a private banking arm of UK-headquartered global financial group (acting on behalf of PRC-based private companies, ultra-high-net-worth individuals) in various equity collar transactions referencing listed shares.

Others*

Assisted various Tokyo-listed companies and Japan subsidiaries of MNCs in conducting independent legal audits and voluntary investigations over their potential corporate and internal misconducts, including suspected misappropriation, breaches of directors' duties, workplace harassment, antitrust and other regulatory violation.
Assisted a Japanese food & beverage manufacturer in disputes with its foreign joint venture partner, including reviewing JV directors' potential breaches of trust, contentious dissolution of the JV entity, acquisition of its business assets and intellectual properties.
Assisted a Japanese court-appointed trustee in bankruptcy of a billionaire individual in relation to realisation and repatriation of his assets spanning over multiple jurisdictions including Cayman Islands, the BVI, Panama, Switzerland and Singapore.

* Representation occurred prior to joining Mayer Brown.

Related Services & Industries

Services

Industries

Publications & Presentations

Publications
View All Insights
- Legal Update
  Japan mulls ISSB-based sustainability disclosure, mandatory after 2027
  June 24, 2024
- Book
  International Transactional Law 'Best Practices'
  January 2020

Education

Singapore Management University, JD
The University of Hong Kong, MIPA
University of the Ryukyus, BA

Admissions

England and Wales
Singapore (non-practicing)
Not admitted in Japan

Languages

English
Japanese
Mandarin