TMI Associates and Simmons & Simmons, working through their joint venture, are assisting Midas Atlantic Partners and the Najafi Companies on acquiring Panasonic Industry’s European Power and Battery Control Solutions business for an undisclosed amount.
The transaction will transfer control of Panasonic Industry’s operations in Germany and Slovakia to Midas Atlantic and the Najafi Companies.
Partner Takushi Saito led the TMI Associates team with associates Takahiro Fuchigami and Tomohiro Hayashi.
“We advised Midas Atlantic Partners and the Najafi Companies on the buy-side of the acquisition of Panasonic Industry’s European Power and Battery Control Solutions business. Our scope covered the legal due diligence and transaction documentation, including the negotiation of the share transfer agreement and ancillary documents for this complex multi-jurisdictional carve-out from a major Japanese conglomerate,” Saito told Asia Business Law Journal.
Saito said the deal’s multi-jurisdictional scope proved to be one of the core challenges.
“First, the wider business operates across multiple countries including Japan, Germany and Slovakia, and as a PE (private equity) group acquiring a carve-out from a large Japanese conglomerate, Midas Atlantic and the Najafi Companies needed to ensure that day 1 standalone operations would run smoothly from closing. Negotiating the transitional arrangements and separation terms to achieve this required careful co-ordination across jurisdictions,” he said.
“Second, given the cross-border nature of the transaction, it was critical that Midas Atlantic’s intentions and commercial positions were accurately conveyed to Panasonic without any miscommunication to build mutual trust and reach agreement.”
Saito said the joint venture between TMI Associates and Simmons & Simmons played an important role in ironing out any legal or cultural differences between the parties involved.
“We leveraged the unique framework of the Simmons & Simmons/TMI collaboration and by working as a single, integrated team combining TMI’s deep understanding of the Japanese corporate mindset and extensive experience in the Japanese M&A market with Simmons & Simmons’ European M&A execution capabilities and its extensive network across European jurisdictions, we were able to bridge legal and cultural gaps between the parties,” he said.
Panasonic Industry, part of Japan’s Panasonic group, supplies power and battery control solutions for industrial and automotive applications. Simmons & Simmons said Panasonic Industry generated around EUR413 million (USD483 million) in revenue in the fiscal year ending March 2026.
The deal is expected to be completed on 1 February 2027, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.
