Gerhard Fasol.

Tag: Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation

  • Japanese Corporate Governance – The Inside Story: Gerhard Fasol and Sir Stephen Gomersall

    Japanese Corporate Governance – The Inside Story: Gerhard Fasol and Sir Stephen Gomersall

    Gerhard Fasol and Sir Stephen Gomersall

    Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, London, Tuesday 16 January 2018, 6:00pm

    Topic: Japanese Corporate Governance – The Inside Story

    Speakers: Gerhard Fasol and Sir Stephen Gomersall

    Program: Tuesday 16 January 2018, 6:00pm – 7:00pm, Drinks reception from 7:00pm

    Location: 13/14 Cornwall Terrace, Outer Circle (entrance facing Regent’s Park), London NW1 4QP, Organised by the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation

    Registration and further details

    Japanese Corporate Governance – The Inside Story

    While many Japanese corporations are greatly admired around the world, certain aspects of Japanese management style are believed to be holding back Japan’s economic growth. The media focus mainly on extreme cases and fraud, but the responsibilities of Directors go far beyond these defensive, compliance-type duties. Preventing fraud alone is not sufficient to ensure growth and long-term success; it is just the baseline!

    Based on several years of direct experience as a non-Japanese Director of a Tokyo Stock Exchange-listed Japanese company, Gerhard Fasol will discuss the reforms to Japanese corporate governance made in recent years, and what, in his view, still needs to be done. He will also discuss issues of diversity and its importance for the quality of management in Japanese corporations.

    About the contributors

    Gerhard Fasol

    Gerhard Fasol founded the M&A and cross-border advisory firm Eurotechnology Japan in 1997, and has worked on a large number of M&A and cross-border projects in Tokyo over the last 20 years. Since 2014 he has been a Board Director and Member of the Supervisory & Audit Committee of the Japanese cybersecurity group GMO Cloud KK, listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, and since April 2017 he has been a Visiting Professor at the University of Kyushu. He gained a PhD in Physics at Trinity College, Cambridge, and then became a Lecturer at Cambridge University, based at the Cavendish Laboratory, while also being a Research Fellow, Teaching Fellow and Director of Studies at Trinity College. He has worked as a research scientist at the Max Planck Institute, Stuttgart, on semiconductor and solid state physics research, as Manager of the Hitachi Research Laboratory in Cambridge, and as an Associate Professor in Electrical Engineering at Tokyo University.

    Sir Stephen Gomersall

    Sir Stephen Gomersall studied at Cambridge and Stanford University, and joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1970. He served in Japan as Political Officer (1972-1977), Economic Counsellor (1986-1990), and Ambassador (1999-2004), and also in the United States as Political Officer in Washington and as Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York. From 2004 he became Chief Executive for Europe in Hitachi, and was the first non-Japanese to serve on the company’s main Board from 2011-2014. He is currently a Director of Hitachi Europe and Hitachi’s main UK subsidiaries investing in railway manufacturing and nuclear power development. He was knighted by the British Government in 2000, and in 2015 received the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun from Japan for services to UK-Japan economic relations.

    More on the topic of corporate governance reforms in Japan

    Copyright (c) 2017 by Eurotechnology Japan. All Rights Reserved.

  • M&A in Japan

    Talk and panel discussion at the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation

    Practical aspects of mergers and acquisitions between Europe and Japan

    Gave a panel talk organized by the Asia Pacific Technology Network at the beautiful House of the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation near Regents Park in London on the topic “M&A in Japan” on April 18th, 2008.

    Summary:

    • The background, the drivers:
      • High Euro, low valuations in Japan
      • Globalization, must have critical size
      • Technology
    • The Landscape: M&A is generally at lower levels than in UK/US, however recently M&A transactions are rising:
      • 1985-1993: 500 deals/year Buyout Funds: 1 – US$ 30 Million
      • 2000-2003: 1700 deals/year
      • 2005-2007: 2700 deals/year Buyout funds: 22 – US$ 5.6 Billion
    • Types of M&A:
      • strategic vs financial
      • Hostile vs friendly
    • M&A: the process
      • The deal: in Japan money does not always win!
      • Due diligence: often overlooked in Japan (with example from our experience)
      • Post-merger: culture is really difficult, must do your homework to succeed! Lets discuss the pitfalls, e.g. lets learn from the Vodafone case!

    Speakers:

    Dr Gerhard Fasol, President, Eurotechnology Japan KK
    David Syrad, Managing Director/Managing Director Asia, A.K.I. Japan Limited/Change Masters International Limited
    Seminar Description

    Two practitioners from Tokyo will debate the changes in Japanese attitudes to mergers and acquisitions. Gerhard Fasol is the leading expert of Japan’s electronics and telecoms sectors, while David Syrad is a consultant specializing on M&As, with particular reference to the automotive sector.

    During the course of this seminar, we will cover:

    DR GERHARD FASOL: BACKGROUND

    Gerhard has been working with the Japanese telecoms industry since 1984. Over 1996/7, he created Eurotechnology Japan KK, which has become one of the leading western technology and M&A advisory boutique in Japan, focussing on the Japanese ICT sector. In recent years, Eurotechnology’s work has included advising a global financial institution on the risks of the US$ 15 billion loan to SoftBank for the Vodafone KK acquisition, helping a French company to acquire a Japanese pharmaceutical factory, analyzing industry sectors and companies for global investment banks, and working with a financial institution on mobile banking sites, including business development, technology and security.

    Eurotechnology was also recently engaged by the European Union to benchmark Japan’s mobile and fixed-line communication industries vs EU, and to make recommendations to the European Union how to learn from Japan.

    In addition, his company constantly works on business development projects between Europe and Japan – several of which Eurotechnology drives on it’s own initiative, helping Japanese companies grow business in Europe, and helping European companies build and grow their businesses in Japan.

    DAVID SYRAD: BACKGROUND

    Managing Director/Managing Director Asia, A.K.I. Japan Limited/Change Masters International Limited. David is responsible for strategy, business development and personnel. Also active as a consultant.AKI is a long-standing market entry and communication-related consultancy. Projects handled include: Automotive, Medical Equipment, ICT, IT, Nuclear Power, Office Automation, Food and Beverages, Sports Goods, Education and Tourism

    Change Masters International is a UK-based, global Strategy Implementation Consultancy – latest Japan project led to client’s induction into the Balanced Scorecard Hall of Fame.

    Location: Daiwa Foundation Japan House, 13/14 Cornwall Terrace, London, NW1 4QP (www.dajf.org.uk/location)
    Nearest tube station: Baker Street
    Timing: Sandwiches 12.30: Seminar 13.00 – 14.30.
    Pricing: Free
    To Register: please send your details (name, institutional affiliation, email address, phone number) to biz@aptn.org
    Contact: Louis Turner 0790 5204 677

    See: http://www.aptn.org.uk/20082Q/80418M&ATokyo.html