Spotlight on business trusts

SUPPLEMENT - THE IFLR GUIDE TO JAPAN 2007 - January 01, 2007

Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu

Address

Kioicho Building, 3-12 Kioicho, Chiyoda-ku Tokyo 102-0094 Japan

Telephone

+81 3 3288-7000

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+81 3 5213-7800 Visit Website

As of December 1 2006, the Japanese Diet is deliberating a bill (the Trust Bill) that seeks to amend Japan's Trust Law. The new Trust Bill would introduce forms of trusts previously not permitted under the Trust Law. One such new form, the business trust, has attracted much attention from the business community.

In Japan, under a business trust (jigyo shintaku) an entire business is entrusted as a trust asset. Although the entrustment of a business, by its very nature, should include the entrustment of the debts relating to the business, under the Trust Law the entrustment of assets is restricted to only positive assets and neither the entrustment of the debts alone nor the entrustment of all components of business (including its positive assets and debts) is permitted. So it is generally understood that the entrustment of a business is not possible under the Trust Law.

However, because the...



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