Nomura Makes Largest Global Deal Since 2008 With $1.8b Macquarie Deal

Nomura planned to grow its assets to create a more stable revenue and reduce its dependency on trading and investment banking fluctuations.

As Japan emerges from decades of economic stagnation, Nomura Holdings is positioning itself to capture the global market. Nomura Holdings has agreed to buy Macquarie Group’s public asset management operations in the US and Europe for $1.8 billion. This transaction will mark the Japanese brokerage’s largest overseas acquisition since it acquired assets from Lehman Brothers in 2008.

The company announced the all-cash agreement, which allows Nomura to acquire approximately $180 billion in client assets across equities, fixed income, and multi-asset strategies.

Nomura, which is Tokyo-based, has started growing its assets to create a more stable revenue source and reduce its dependency on trading and investment banking fluctuations. It aims to take advantage of the willingness of Japanese people who want to invest their $15.8 trillion of financial assets as the country gets back on its feet after years of deflation.

Chief Executive Officer Kentaro Okuda stated that this acquisition helps them satisfy their ambitions to grow globally and diversify by 2030, focusing on investing in stable, high-margin businesses. He added that this deal would enhance their business and create more opportunities to develop their public and private capabilities by significantly scaling up in the US.

Nomura stated that after the transaction, assets under management at Nomura’s investment management division will increase to around $770 billion, with over a third of clients managed outside the country. The company is aiming to finalize the deal by the end of 2025.

Michael Makdad, a senior analyst at Morningstar, an American financial services company, stated that their primary goal is to globalize the investment management division, which was mainly Japan-focused.

The timing is critical. With the market going wild with the back-and-forth trade war between the US and China, the push to expand internationally again may seem like playing with fire for Japan’s largest brokerage. Almost 90% of the Macquarie unit’s assets are in America, with stocks, bonds, and dollars facing increasing pressure to sell, especially since President Donald Trump announced worldwide tariffs.

Nomura has had some failures previously in expanding internationally. After acquiring Lehman’s Asia and European units amid a global financial crisis, the company faced difficulty making profits abroad. It suffered a nearly $3 billion loss due to the collapse of Archegos Capital Management.

The recent story tells a different tale. Things have changed since then, as their profits have increased recently. Their net profits have grown twofold to ¥268.8 billion ($1.9 billion) in the nine months that ended December, thanks to a resurgence in trading and dealmaking. After that, for every quarter of this fiscal year, operations abroad have earned profits.

Nomura shares have increased by 0.4% since the announcement. The stock slumped around 26% from its 16-year peak after the US tariff announcement. Macquarie increased by 1.1%, reducing the yearly decline to 18%.

This deal will give Nomura 700 employees and $700 million in net management fees. Nomura expects that after the all-cash transaction, 60% of its investment management business income will come from outside Japan, an increase from 34% at the end of 2024.

Macquarie planned to sell the Philadelphia-based unit to focus on private markets.

Macquarie Asset Management would become a more focused leader in the global private markets alternatives market, focusing on institutional, insurance, and wealth markets.

Analysts from Citigroup wrote that transactions help Macquarie Asset Management return to its competitive advantages: private markets and Australia, its home market.

The companies also agreed to work together on product and distribution opportunities. Nomura will serve as the US wealth distribution partner, and Shawn Lytle, President of Macquarie Funds, will oversee the business after the acquisition.