Nishimura & Asahi has advised Japanese telecommunication company KDDI on its 496.5 billion yen ($3.3 billion) offer to take convenience store chain Lawson private. Lawson is being represented by Anderson Mori & Tomotsune, with Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu guiding current shareholder Mitsubishi Corp.

KDDI plans to start the acquisition around April, Reuters reported, adding it will hold 50 percent of KDDI after the completion of the deal. The remaining 50 percent will be held by Mitsubishi.

Convenience stores play a vital role in Japanese society, serving as essential social infrastructure by fulfilling diverse functions such as handling tax payments and providing residence certificate services. “These functions complement KDDI’s communications and DX offerings,” Makoto Takahashi, KDDI’s president, was quoted as saying.

The Nishimura team was led by partners Tatsuya Tanigawa, Cuiping Zhang, Susumu Tanizawa, Kazumaro Kobayashi, Yoshito Wakabayashi, Junko Wakabayashi, and Satoru Yoshikawa.

The AMT team was headed by partner Keita Tokura.