Nomura clinches Lehman's Asian operations

Japanese financial services major Nomura is going to acquire the Asian operations of US bankrupt investment bank Lehman Brothers, a media report says.     

An agreement for the acquisition was signed by senior executives representing the Japanese investment bank and Lehman's Asian operations, UK daily Financial Times reported quoting people familiar to the matter.     

Nomura is buying Lehman's entire Asian region franchise, which spans investment banking, fixed income and equities. However, for technical reasons the deal does not cover Lehman's South Korean operations, although Nomura is expected to acquire those too at a later date, the report stated.     

News of the deal would come as massive relief to Lehman's 3,000 staff in Asia, half of which are located in Tokyo, the paper stated.     

 

This is a great deal for the staff. The Asian franchise was evaporating and it is good to get a deal done so quickly, FT quoted a person familiar with the agreement. Nomura is expected to confirm the agreement and price it has paid in an official announcement later in the day, the paper said.     

Besides, the report further stated that Nomura could also announce acquisition of some of Lehman's European operations as well today.     

Nomura managed to clinch the Asia deal because it had bid aggressively and Lehman's management was re-assured with their integration plans, it added.     

The agreement follows several negotiations by Lehman's management and KPMG, the provisional liquidators of Lehman's Hong Kong operations, with several banking groups interested in bidding for the assets, which included Barclays and Standard Chartered.