Japan's Nomura Confirms It Will Buy Instinet
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
November 2, 2006 7:05 a.m.
By YUKA HAYASHI
Of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ASIA
TOKYO(Dow Jones)--Nomura Holdings Inc. (8604.TO) said Thursday it has agreed to purchase electronic stockbroker Instinet Inc. for an undisclosed price, in the latest sign of its revived ambitions to expand overseas.
Nomura, Japan's leading brokerage firm, said it will pay cash to acquire a 100% stake in the New York-based company from majority-owner Silver Lake Partners, a private-equity firm in Menlo Park, Calif. and the current management team of the brokerage. With the deal, Silver Lake is cashing out of its investment in less than a year; it paid $208 million for Instinet in December last year to its previous owner, the Nasdaq Stock Market.
Instinet executes trades for institutional investors like mutual funds, hedge funds and pension funds. With some 1,500 clients worldwide and the ability to trade on more than 50 securities markets in the U.S., Europe and Asia, Instinet is a leading global agency broker.
The transaction is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2007, subject to regulatory approvals. Senior management of Instinet, including chief executive Edward Nicoll, will continue to run the firm. Mr. Nicoll and some other members of management own a minority stake in the brokerage.
Nomura said in a release the acquisition will allow the company to provide a broader array of services to institutional investors, to whom it already provides securities research offerings.
The major acquisition comes as Nomura begins to expand overseas again, aided by a recovery in Japan's stock market in recent years. Nomura, once a major player in financial markets in New York and London, had pulled back drastically from overseas operations during the 1990s, hurt by the slump in the Japanese economy and markets, as well as losses related to the 1998 Russian debt crisis and its U.S. commercial mortgage-backed securities unit.
But as its earnings and stock price improved, the Tokyo company began building back its business overseas recently. In December last year, for example, it bought a boutique investment bank in the U.K. called Code Securities, and in February, bought a stake in Taishin Financial Holding Co., a large Taiwan bank, for $125 million.
The deal also takes place as securities trading becomes increasingly global and a wave of consolidation among securities exchanges in the U.S. and Europe reaches Asia. In late October, the Tokyo Stock Exchange disclosed it had held discussions with the New York Stock Exchange for a possible alliance. Such a move would encourage more companies from the U.S. and Japan to list their shares in both New York and Tokyo, thus making it easier to invest internationally.
野村控股将收购Instinet
2006年11月03日10:40英 | 大 | 中 | 小
野村控股(Nomura Holdings Inc.)称，它将收购Instinet，但未透露收购价格。这体现了野村控股再次向海外扩张的雄心。
按市值计算，野村控股是日本最大的经纪公司。该公司称，它将从Instinet多数股份所有者、美国私人资本运营公司Silver Lake Partners以及Instinet现有管理团队手中收购Instinet。Silver Lake在不到一年的时间中将其投资套现；去年12月它出资2.08亿美元从Instinet前所有者Nasdaq Stock Market购买了现有股份。
Instinet为共同基金、对冲基金以及退休基金等机构投资者进行交易。它在全球拥有约1,500个客户，而且能够在美国、欧洲以及亚洲的50多个证券市场上进行交易。
这笔交易预计在2007年第一季度内完成，但是尚待监管部门批准。Instinet首席执行长爱德华?尼科尔(Edward Nicoll)等高级管理人员将继续经营该公司。尼科尔以及管理团队的其他成员拥有这家经纪公司的少数股份。
野村控股称，这次收购将扩大公司向机构投资者提供的服务范围。它已向客户提供证券研究服务。
最近几年日本股票市场开始复苏，野村控股受此推动重新开始向海外扩张。这笔收购交易也是在这样的背景下达成的。野村控股一度曾是纽约及伦敦金融市场的主要参与者。该公司于20世纪90年代放弃海外经营，因为公司在日本经济及金融市场的衰退中遭受了损失。
随着野村控股的收益及股票价格不断上升，它开始重新开辟海外市场。去年12月，它收购了英国投资银行Code Securities。今年2月，它斥资1.25亿美元收购了台湾大型银行台新金融控股股份有限公司(Taishin Financial Holding Co.)的部分股份。
这笔交易达成时，正值证券交易日益国际化，以及欧美证券交易所整合浪潮蔓延至亚洲之际。10月底，东京证交所(Tokyo Stock Exchange)披露，它与纽约证交所(New York Stock Exchange)就结成联盟进行了商谈。此举将促进更多的美国及日本公司在纽约及东京两地同时上市，使投资者进行国际投资变得更加容易。
Yuka Hayashi
