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Nomura agreed to expand Macquarie’s US and European public asset management business worldwide and take advantage of generational changes in Japanese investment habits.
The $18 billion total cash transaction, which will be closed by the end of the year, requires the purchase of approximately $180 billion in business with managed assets across equities, bonds and multi-asset strategies.
The acquisition will expand Nomura’s investment management division to approximately $7700 billion, with over 35% being managed on behalf of clients outside of Japan.
Nomura’s CEO Kentaro Okuda has been his mission since taking over the group in 2020 to transfer it to wealth and asset management.
“By adding this business to the group, we provide a solid platform in the high-growth US market, which has the largest fee pool in the asset management and financial industry. We are confident that this will significantly improve the group’s future growth,” he said Tuesday.
He said after the transaction, the investment management business will withdraw about 60% of revenues from outside Japan, compared to about 30% today. “The company will evolve into a global platform,” he added.
Nomura is trying to reduce his reliance on unstable revenue streams from trading and investment banks. The need to diversify was highlighted after the group acquired a $2.9 billion hit from the collapse of Arquegos in 2021.
The strategy is designed to pursue international growth and take advantage of the opportunity for Nomura to return to Japan, encouraging households to transfer wealth from cash and deposits to higher yield investments.
According to the Bank of Japan, Japanese households hold about half of their financial assets totaling 2.2 yen (15.4tn).
For Macquarie, the sale represents the most important step in pivoting Sydney-based asset managers against private markets outside of Australia.
After acquiring US company Delaware Investments for $428 million in 2010, it built its international asset management business, one of its biggest acquisitions at the time, and has since grown the Philadelphia-based business further through trading. I bought Waddell & Reed in 2021 for $1.7 billion.
Okuda said the deal “provides the opportunity to add massive scale to the US, strengthen our platform and build public and private capabilities.”
Nomura’s revenues have begun to improve under Okuda. This includes a doubling of three months from the previous year to December. However, share prices at banks and securities companies have been hampered in recent weeks.
The tariffs from US President Donald Trump have led to similar sudden moves between Japanese financial groups at nearly 25% and 25% from this year’s highest point.
Nomura is scheduled to announce the full year results on Friday.
