Offshore law firm Harneys has launched a representative office in Tokyo as part of an expansion plan that saw the firm open its doors in Singapore last year. 

Funds specialist Yuji Asano, previously a marketing and sales director at Japanese financial institution Sumitomo Mitsui Trust, has joined Harneys’ new office as a consultant and Japan Representative. 

The firm has also boosted its Japan practice with the hire of investment funds partner Matt Roberts in Hong Kong. Roberts advises companies, financial institutions and fund managers on a range of offshore investment funds work, as well as M&A, capital markets and corporate governance matters. Before joining Harneys, he was a senior associate at Maples and Calder in Hong Kong.

“Both Matt and Yuji have excellent reputations in the Japanese funds market,” said Harneys Asia managing partner Jonathan Culshaw, in a statement. 

“Matt, who is based in Hong Kong, has advised on many of the region’s largest and most complex institutional deals involving offshore structures. Yuji’s unparalleled industry expertise enables him to provide a responsive and commercial client liaison function direct from Tokyo.”

Harneys’ Japan practice was set up last November following the hire of counsel Junko Shiokawa in Hong Kong from Conyers Dill & Pearmang. The team also includes partner Lisa Pearce and senior associate Henno Boshoff in Singapore, and counsel Marc Parrott and senior associate Tom Dugdale in Hong Kong.

The Japan office is Harneys’ eighth worldwide and third in Asia. The firm opened in Hong Kong in 2005, and launched a Singapore office in April 2014.