Yoshihisa Watanabe

Yoshihisa Watanabe is a partner at Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu.

He has extensive experience in real estate, energy, and infrastructure, with a focus on M&A and joint ventures, including greenfield investments, secondary transactions, financing arrangements, and cross-border deals.

In the real estate sector, building on his experience in securitization and non-recourse lending, he actively handles domestic and international investment and development projects, particularly involving hotels and logistics facilities. He also provides comprehensive legal support for overseas real estate investments—primarily in North America, Europe, and Australia—covering the full lifecycle from acquisition and financing to asset management and exit strategies.

In the energy and infrastructure sectors, he advises clients on projects involving battery storage, hydrogen and ammonia, carbon capture and storage (CCS), offshore wind, digital infrastructure such as data centers, power plant development and replacement, construction and EPC arrangements, and corporate PPA transactions. His work includes structuring, joint venture formation, and project finance.

He is also engaged in business development and investment projects in the agriculture, forestry, fisheries, food, and logistics sectors, as well as environmental law and decarbonization and sustainability-related matters. He provides practical, business-oriented legal advice, including regulatory compliance with a strong focus on commercial viability.

He is particularly recognized for offering business-driven legal advice that goes beyond identifying risks, and for his strength in handling complex transactions that involve the intersection of assets, M&A/corporate, and finance. Leveraging this expertise, he has been involved in many recent transactions aimed at enhancing corporate value through asset-light strategies, including strategic M&A in the real estate, energy, and infrastructure sectors, joint ventures including business integrations, sale-and-leaseback transactions, and the formation of private funds.

Representative Recent Transactions:

• Development of hyperscale data centers using GK-TK / TMK structures
• Development of grid-scale battery storage and related project financing
• Formation of private real estate and renewable energy funds based on asset rotation strategies
• Hydrogen and ammonia hub development and supply chain formation projects
• Acquisition, privatization, and business integration of a listed company holding prime real estate assets
• Sale-and-leaseback transactions of core assets such as headquarters buildings by listed companies
• Fund investments and development of office and commercial properties in North America, Europe, and Australia
• Development and operation of luxury hotels, branded residences, and hotel condominiums
• Development of offshore wind projects (domestic and international) and acquisition of solar power portfolios
• Regulatory and contractual legal advice for large-scale redevelopment projects
• Response to administrative investigations under waste management laws and legal advisory on circular economy matters
• Joint ventures with climate tech and agri-venture companies
• Dispute resolution and litigation relating to real estate transactions and construction matters