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Simpson Thacher recently represented the underwriters led by Goldman Sachs International, Morgan Stanley and Nikko Citigroup in the IPO of Aozora Bank, including an initial public offering in Japan and an international offering to institutional investors, as well as the listing of Aozora's common stock on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Selling shareholders, including Cerberus and the Government of Japan (through The Resolution and Collection Corporation), sold 619,809,000 shares of common stock for proceeds of ¥351 billion ($3 billion), making the IPO the largest in Japan in 2006.

Aozora is the first bank in Japan since Shinsei Bank in 2004 to trade publicly again after its predecessor had failed and come under temporary state control. The IPO comes eight years after Aozora's predecessor Nippon Credit Bank was nationalized in 1998. Cerberus acquired a 62% interest in Aozora in 2003 and continues to own 36% following completion of the IPO.

The Simpson Thacher team included Alan Cannon, Mikako Cho, Mohan Nadig and Lou Rabinowitz in Tokyo, and Hallie Grainer in New York.