Nomura’s biggest deal since Lehman forms $770 billion unit

Nomura Holdings Inc. agreed to purchase Macquarie Group Ltd.’s US and European public asset management business for $1.8 billion, marking the Japanese brokerage’s most significant overseas acquisition since it bought Lehman Brothers assets in 2008.The all-cash deal will enable Nomura to scoop up about $180 billion in client assets across equities, fixed income and multi-asset strategies, it said in a statement on Tuesday.

Tokyo-based Nomura has been expanding in asset management to generate more stable income and reduce its reliance on volatile trading and investment banking. It’s seeking to capitalize Japanese individuals’ growing appetite to invest their $15.8 trillion of financial assets as the country emerges from decades of deflation.

“This acquisition will align with our 2030 global growth and diversification ambitions to invest in stable, high margin businesses,” Chief Executive Officer Kentaro Okuda said. It will add “significant scale in the US, strengthening our platform, and providing opportunities to build our public and private capabilities.”

Assets under management at Nomura’s investment management division will increase to around $770 billion after the transaction, with more than a third being managed on behalf of clients outside the country, it said. It’s aiming to close the transaction by the end of 2025.“The main goal is making the investment management division, which has been more Japan-centric than Nomura’s wholesale division, more global, while also increasing its size,” said Michael Makdad, a senior analyst at Morningstar Inc.

The push to expand abroad again may seem like a risky bet for Japan’s largest brokerage at a time when markets are reeling from the global trade war. About 90% of the Macquarie unit’s assets are in the US, where stocks, bonds and the dollar have faced selling pressure since President Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs earlier this month.

Nevertheless, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Matt Ingram said the deal “is cheap” for Nomura, representing about 1% of the Macquarie unit’s assets under management.

Nomura has stumbled in past forays abroad. The company struggled to generate profits overseas in the years after it bought Lehman’s Asian and European units during the global financial crisis. It incurred an almost $3 billion loss linked to the collapse of Archegos Capital Management in 2021.

Earnings have improved recently. Profit more than doubled to ¥268.8 billion ($1.9 billion) in the nine months ended December, driven by a pickup in trading and dealmaking. Overseas operations have been profitable in each quarter so far this fiscal year. Nomura reports fourth-quarter results on Friday.

Shares of Nomura rose 0.4% in Tokyo on Tuesday morning. The stock has slumped about 26% from a 16-year high in February, part of a rout after Trump’s tariff announcements. Macquarie gained 1.1% in Sydney, paring this year’s drop to 18%.

The deal will give Nomura a business that generates around $700 million in net management fees and has more than 700 employees. About half of its clients are retail investors and around a third are insurers. Nomura expects its investment management business will earn 60% of its revenue from outside Japan after the deal, up from 34% at the end of 2024.

For Macquarie, the deal to sell the Philadelphia-based unit is part of the Australian bank’s efforts to focus on private markets.

Macquarie Asset Management will “be a more focused, leading, global private markets alternatives business” focused on institutional, insurance and wealth markets, it said in a statement. The unit will retain its public investments business in its home market.

“The transaction sharpens the focus of Macquarie Asset Management back to its competitive strengths — private markets and its home market of Australia,” Citigroup Inc. analysts including Thomas Strong wrote in a note.

The companies also agreed to collaborate on product and distribution opportunities, including Nomura being a US wealth distribution partner. Macquarie Funds President Shawn Lytle will continue to manage the business following the acquisition.