Nomura Holdings Inc. agreed to acquire the Asian operations of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.
According people familiar to the matter stated on Monday that Nomura Holdings Inc.-Japan’s biggest securities firm will obtain the Asian operations of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. exclusive of South Korea.
As well as it was expected yesterday that the company will also announce the purchase of some of Lehman’s European operations.
Since losses on U.S. mortgage investments expanded overseas push was turned back by predecessor Nobuyuki Koga in 2007. Now Lehman’s failure possibly will permit Nomura President Kenichi Watanabe to restart overseas push again.
Asian and European firms grabbed an opportunity to grasp market share in trading, underwriting stock sales and advising companies on takeovers in recent weeks due to the redesigning of Wall Street as impact of financial market turmoil. Subsequent to the parent company’s Chapter 11 filing, Lehman’s key units in Japan filed for bankruptcy last week.
According to familiar people over the weekend the company negotiated with other possible buyers that include Barclays Plc and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc.
Last week Lehman’s North American business was acquired by the U.K.’s third-biggest bank Barclays.
After losing 31.2 billion yen on the business in the quarter ended June 2007 Nomura blocked buying U.S. subprime mortgage loans and repackaging them as securities.
