News

Thomas De Muynck joins Jones Day Tokyo Office

Further bolsters Firm's cross-border practice between EU and Japan


TOKYO - Jones Day, a leading global law firm, is pleased to announce that partner Thomas De Muynck has moved to the Firm's Tokyo Office, effective January 1, 2011.

Mr. De Muynck, admitted in Brussels and New York, is a European lawyer with more than ten years of experience advising international clients on mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, joint ventures, private equity transactions, and corporate governance issues. He is listed as a leading Corporate/M&A lawyer in the 2010 editions of the Chambers Global and Chambers Europe guides.

Mr. De Muynck transfers to Tokyo from Jones Day's Brussels Office, where he has been working since the beginning of his career. He previously lived and worked in Japan as a secondee of Jones Day to the legal division of Toyota Motor Corporation, and has significant experience representing Japanese multinationals on a wide range of acquisitions, divestitures, restructurings, and other transactions in Europe. He recently acted for Japanese blue chip clients such as Sumitomo Bakelite, Toyota, and Zeon Corporation, and has been involved in a number of Bridgestone transactions handled by the Firm's Brussels Office. He also regularly represents U.S. and European funds and corporations.

The assignment of Mr. De Muynck to the Tokyo office is part of the Firm's broader EU-Japan Initiative intended to expand the Firm's representation of Japanese clients abroad. The initiative is led by Luc Houben, a partner in the Brussels Office. Mr. Houben joined the Firm in 1989 when the Brussels Office was opened and he was the Partner-in-Charge from 1993 through 2010. Mr. Houben has lived and practiced in Japan and represents several major Japanese corporates including Bridgestone, Daihatsu, Hino Motors, Mitsui Chemicals, Sumitomo Bakelite, and Toyota. "Both Thomas and I are fully committed to the Japan practice," says Mr. Houben. "Having our first European partner resident in the Tokyo Office is a significant step in the further development of our Japan-European business and will allow us to offer better services to our Japanese and European clients."

"I'm very excited to return to Japan to be part of our well established Tokyo Office and the Firm's concerted effort to increase representations of Japanese corporations in Europe and around the world," said Mr. De Muynck. "Japan remains one of the world's largest and most advanced economies and I am convinced Japanese companies will continue and even accelerate their global expansion over the next years. As a truly global Firm, we are uniquely positioned to assist them in this overseas expansion. I find it tremendously rewarding to work for and with our Japanese clients, and hope to contribute to their success by being a bridge between Japan and the European market."

"Given the trend of M&A transactions led by Japanese companies, there is an increase in cross-border M&A involving foreign companies," said Nobutoshi Yamanouchi, Partner-in-Charge of Jones Day's Tokyo Office. "This is because of the necessity of responding strategically to Japan's demographic trends of an aging population, declining birthrate, and overall population decline. It is also likely that an increasing number of Japanese companies will leverage their strong balance sheets and the strong yen to seek out new opportunities by further advancing into the European, U.S., and emerging markets. It is under these circumstances that Jones Day Tokyo welcomes Thomas who will be a great asset to us in supporting Japanese companies expanding their business to Europe with his experience not only in Europe and the U.S., but also in Japan."

Jones Day is a global law firm with locations in centers of business and finance throughout the world. Ranked among the world's best and most integrated law firms, and perennially ranked among the best in client service, Jones Day acts as principal outside counsel to, or provides significant legal representation for, more than half of the Fortune Global 500 companies.