Corporate Takeover Trouble Erupts at Firm Advising Former Reconstruction Minister Hiromichi Watanabe

“Please do your very best”

A café-restaurant surrounded by greenery in Tokyo’s Akasaka district, nestled among high-rise office buildings and condominiums. It was here that a businessman who runs a company (hereafter, “Mr. A”) was introduced by a man known as the chairman to a certain person.

The business card he received listed his titles as “Liberal Democratic Party” and “Former Member of the House of Representatives.” The veteran politician who appeared before Mr. A was Hirohito Watanabe, who had served twice as Minister of Reconstruction under the Abe and Kishida administrations. The man known as the chairman explained Mr. A’s company to Watanabe.

“Sensei, Mr. A’s company has a lot of potential. It’s already a member of our group of companies.”

Mr. A then enthusiastically explained his own company’s business to the veteran politician sitting before him.

“Please do your very best.”

The greeting lasted less than three minutes, but Watanabe reportedly encouraged Mr. A with those words before leaving.

“That day, there was a dinner gathering hosted by Lions Fides Partners (Minato, Tokyo; hereafter, ‘Lions’), a company involved in M&A and management consulting. Several companies affiliated with Lions in fields such as healthcare, food and beverage, and agriculture are part of its group, and many of their executives and associates attended the dinner.

I was introduced to Watanabe because he was also said to be Lions’ senior adviser. At the dinner, I sat diagonally across from Watanabe, and we had a lively conversation. I had the impression that many politicians simply give a brief greeting at the beginning of such gatherings and then leave, but Watanabe stayed until the very end of the dinner, which lasted nearly three hours. Watanabe was also added to a group LINE chat created by the people involved that day. I could really feel how close the relationship between Lions and Watanabe was.”

— Mr. A (unless otherwise noted, all subsequent comments are also his)

The dinner took place in November 2024. Since Watanabe had lost the general election held shortly before that, the business card he handed out at the time identified him as a “Former Member of the House of Representatives.” (He was elected again in the February 2026 general election.)

The chairman who was beside him at the time was Takamasa Sakai, who is said to be Lions’ de facto manager. Chairman Sakai introduced Mr. A’s company to Watanabe as a member of our group of companies, but in reality, that was not the case.

“It was only after the dinner, in December 2024, that my company agreed to be acquired by Lions and become part of the group. Shortly before that, I met Watanabe and was impressed by the fact that this is a trustworthy company that even a politician is involved with. That became the final push that led me to decide to sell my company.”

In this way, Mr. A decided to sell his company to Lions through an M&A deal. But before long, his previously smooth-running business underwent a dramatic change. A series of problems allegedly arose as a result of Lions’ involvement.

Mr. A’s company had built a successful business model selling kitchen goods, food products, and household items developed in collaboration with well-known celebrities through 24-hour television shopping programs on satellite broadcasting and other channels.

At the same time, looking toward further growth and his own financial future, Mr. A had been considering transferring the business to a company with greater financial resources. It was around this time that he was introduced, through an acquaintance, to a director of Lions, referred to as “Director X.”

“At first, Director X approached me about selling a retort curry product planned by Tokyo Bishoku Labo, a Lions-affiliated company, through television shopping. During our discussions, we also began talking about selling my business and financing, and Director X asked me to include us among the companies being considered for the M&A.”

Mr. A reportedly had several potential buyers at the time, but ultimately decided to sell because, among other things, “Lions promised to invest ample funds even after the acquisition and expand the business.” Watanabe’s presence, as described at the beginning, also helped persuade him. On December 19, 2024, the deal was completed in the form of an exchange: all shares of Mr. A’s company were transferred in exchange for 5 million shares of Tokyo Bishoku Labo held by Lions.

Watanabe and Lions Inc.’s respond

Something went wrong shortly afterward, in January 2025.

“First, we received payment reminders from the health insurance association and local authorities saying that payments for the previous month’s social insurance premiums and resident taxes were overdue. We also discovered that payments to several manufacturers we had commissioned to produce collaboration products with popular celebrities were either insufficient or had been stopped altogether.

I asked Y, the president of Lions, to make the payments properly, but my request was ignored, and I ended up losing the trust of business partners who had worked with me to build the business over the years.”

Lions also allegedly used Mr. A’s company seals and other official materials to open a new account at an online bank. It reportedly contacted the company operating the television shopping service and attempted to change the account receiving the shopping sales proceeds to the newly opened account.

“In fact, at that point, the sale of my company to Lions had not yet formally become effective. A pledge had been placed on my company’s shares in connection with financial assistance we had received from a company other than Lions. Under the contract, the sale would only become effective after that pledge was released, but Lions had not paid the money required for that to happen.”

As a result, the suspension of payments to business partners and the opening of a new bank account could potentially constitute improper actions taken unilaterally by Lions.

The two companies are currently involved in a dispute over certain transactions and other matters following the M&A agreement. In the course of preparing for the dispute, Mr. A says he gathered information from various sources and learned about a number of past troubles involving Lions.

What particularly shocked Mr. A was what he learned about “Chairman Sakai,” who appeared at the beginning of the article and is said to be the de facto manager of Lions.

“It turned out that Chairman Sakai’s name was apparently an alias, and that he was someone with a history of having been arrested in the past.”

There were also questionable aspects concerning the shares of Tokyo Bishoku Labo that were supposed to be exchanged as consideration for the acquisition of Mr. A’s company.

“A company that sold high-end shokupan, or premium Japanese bread, during the boom was also acquired in exchange for shares in Tokyo Bishoku Labo. My case was the same, but Lions promoted the idea that Tokyo Bishoku Labo was close to being listed on the stock market, telling me things such as, ‘The price will rise once it goes public’ and ‘You’ll definitely make a huge amount of money.’ However, there is still no sign that the company is going public.”

When asked about Watanabe’s relationship with Lions, his office responded in writing:

“It is true that I accepted a position as an adviser. However, I have had absolutely no involvement in the company’s actual operations. I have also received no compensation.”

His office also stated that Watanabe had no recollection of being introduced to Mr. A by Lions Chairman Sakai. It added:

“The claim that Mr. A and Lions entered into a contract because he learned that I was an adviser to Lions is inconsistent with the facts.”

(The parenthetical wording was added by the writer.)

When FRIDAY asked Lions whether Watanabe had been appointed as its senior adviser and whether Chairman Sakai had a history of arrest, the company declined to comment, citing the protection of personal information and privacy:

“We must refrain from providing an answer.”

Regarding its dispute with Mr. A’s company, Lions gave an explanation broadly along the following lines:

“Mr. A, who was experiencing difficult business conditions due to cash-flow issues and other problems, approached our company with a request for an M&A transaction aimed at rescuing his business. We therefore determined that there was potential for business reconstruction as well as synergies with our existing businesses, and by around February 2025, we had provided more than ¥60 million in working capital.

However, the television-shopping sales revenue that we had expected to use as a source for recovering those funds was not paid to our company, making it difficult for us to recover the working capital. Regarding unpaid social insurance premiums and other obligations, we understand that there were already outstanding debts before we began providing our support.”

Lions’ website initially listed Chairman Sakai as one of its executives. It also listed, among its senior advisers, Watanabe, as well as House of Councillors member Muneo Suzuki of the Liberal Democratic Party and Hiromu Kurokawa, the former chief prosecutor of the Tokyo High Public Prosecutors Office who had once been the No. 2 official in Japan’s public prosecutor system.

However, sometime after “FRIDAY” sent Lions a questionnaire dated August 19, their names disappeared from the company’s website.

What does this mean?