Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Sullivan & Cromwell have taken lead roles on the merger of the Japanese securities units of Morgan Stanley and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), a deal which will form the third-largest brokerage in the country.
Freshfields acted for Morgan Stanley, with a team led by Tokyo-based partners James Lawden, Naoki Kinami, James Wood, Junzaburo Kiuchi and Kazuki Okada. The US bank had previously instructed Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz on its $9bn (£6.4bn) sale of a 20% stake to MUFG shortly after the collapse of Lehman Brothers last September.
