BMS adds new director to its Japanese M&A unit

BMS Group has announced the appointment of Ryo Iizuka as a director of the broker’s private equity, mergers and acquisitions, and tax (PEMAT) business in Japan.

Based in Tokyo, Iizuka (pictured) will report to Tim Hewitt, head of BMS Japan, and joins effective immediately.

BMS’s Japan office has been operational since mid-2023, and Iizuka’s appointment rounds out the local team to a dynamic trio of experts from legal, investment banking, consulting, and insurance backgrounds.

Iizuka joins with experience with large global investment banking and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) consulting firms, having worked in senior positions including at Deloitte, Accenture, and HSBC.

He will work alongside Hewitt and Kaori Iwai (an associate), BMS said.

His appointment is, BMS said, “in response to rising demand in Japan for independent and specialist advice, and representation for brokering tailored insurance solutions to mitigate complex risks across a range of transaction types”.

Iizuka’s M&A experience including corporates and private equity firms, would “immediately bolster BMS’s capabilities…within the active M&A market in Japan,” the broker said.

BMS has expanded its presence in Asia over the past few years, with offices and multilingual experts also located in Hong Kong, Seoul, and Singapore.

As highlighted in BMS’s 2024 PEMAT report, there has been a resurgence in M&A activity across Asian markets and especially Japan, which in turn has led to increasing demand for the broker’s PEMAT team.

“The appointment of Ryo gives our BMS team another dimension with his broad perspective and experience, particularly as an expert in advising corporates’ M&A strategies into and out of Japan,” Hewitt said.

“I’m looking forward to working with Ryo as my front-line partner as we continue to challenge the market with new solutions for insureds. We’ve had a great first year in Japan, and the hire of Ryo marks our dedication to delivering insurance solutions as strategic deal advisors.”

Iizuka added: “I cannot wait to start working with our colleagues around the world and building BMS’s challenger reputation in Japan with Tim and Kaori by contributing my M&A expertise to help develop and deploy new transaction insurance solutions for the insureds in Japan.”