Nomura and Macquarie announced today that they have entered into an agreement for Nomura to buy Macquarie’s US and European public asset management business, with about $180bn in retail and institutional client assets across equities, fixed income and multi-asset strategies.
Nomura will purchase 100% of the stock of three companies for an all-cash purchase price of $1.8bn (subject to closing adjustments), and the deal should close by the end of this year.
The three target companies are Macquarie Management Holdings, Inc., a Delaware corporation, which owns the public asset management business in the US, Macquarie Investment Management Holdings (Luxembourg), and Macquarie Investment Management Holdings (Austria).
“This acquisition will align with our 2030 global growth and diversification ambitions to invest in stable, high margin businesses,” said Kentaro Okuda, Nomura president and group CEO, in a statement.
Through this transaction, Nomura will expand its investment management division, which currently manages approximately $590bn in client assets. Upon completion, the total assets under management of Nomura’s Investment Management franchise are expected to increase to around $770bn, with more than 35% being managed on behalf of clients outside Japan.
This acquisition will also provide Nomura with a scaled hub, headquartered in Philadelphia, to further grow its international investment management business.
“It will be transformational for our investment management division’s presence outside of Japan, adding significant scale in the US, strengthening our platform, and providing opportunities to build our public and private capabilities,” said Okuda.
The Macquarie US business is currently managed by a team led by Shawn Lytle (president of the Macquarie funds and head of Americas for Macquarie Group). Lytle, alongside John Pickard, CIO equities & multi-asset, Greg Gizzi, CIO fixed income, and Milissa Hutchinson, head of US wealth, will continue to manage the business following the acquisition.
All 700-plus employees will be joining the Nomura Group, according to the statement.
Nomura and Macquarie have also agreed to collaborate on product and distribution, including Nomura being a US wealth distribution partner for Macquarie Asset Management and providing continued access for US wealth clients to Macquarie Asset Management’s Alternative investment capabilities.
Nomura also plans to carry out several initiatives to support organic growth, increased AUM scale, and diversification of the business’s capability set post-acquisition.
These initiatives include: developing new investment capabilities designed to meet the needs of clients, scaling the active ETF platform established by the business in mid-2023, investing in talent and data analytics to grow the distribution platform and leveraging the business’s existing distribution channels to provide its retail and institutional clients with access to the broader set of Nomura asset management capabilities
