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Tokyo: Lehman Brothers has decided to sell its Asian operations to Nomura Holdings, Japan's largest brokerage, for an undisclosed sum, Nomura confirmed on Monday.
Nomura said in a statement that the deal would include all of Lehman's franchises and approximately 3,000 employees in the Asia-Pacific regions, including Japan and Australia.
Nomura said the deal does not include any trading assets or trading liabilities.
Nomura Holdings is also understood to be the preferred bidder for the European operations of failed US investment firm Lehman Brothers, a report said on Monday.
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), which is acting as the administrator to Lehman's European operations, said it was in talks with one interested party - said to be Nomura by Britain's Press Association news agency.
"We have now focused on one party as they are interested in acquiring a wider team, which should result in a better deal for staff and creditors of these businesses," said PwC partner and joint administrator Dan Schwarzmann.
"Given the complexity of Lehman Brothers, these negotiations are difficult, but I'm hoping to give certainty to all involved as soon as possible," he added in a statement.
A Nomura deal for Lehman in Europe could save at least 1,000 jobs in London, the Press Association said. As well as Nomura, British bank Barclays had been reportedly in the race for Lehman's European arms.
Barclays has, however, succeeded in acquiring the North American investment banking and capital markets businesses of Lehman for $1.75 billion.
The report yesterday came as Nomura Holdings was said to have won a deal to buy the entire Asian operations of Lehman Brothers Holdings, according to two sources quoted in Tokyo.
Kenichi Watanabe, president of Nomura Holdings, had hinted at buying a stake in Lehman Brothers days before the US investment bank collapsed, saying the deal could boost the Japanese firm's capacity to handle foreign stocks.
Nomura had scaled back its overseas operations following the burst of Japan's 'bubble' speculative economy in the early 1990s, but has now shown interest in expanding operations in Asia.
Jiji Press said Nomura has secured some 600 billion yen ($5.6 billion) in cash by issuing bonds and loans for investment in expanding businesses at home and overseas.
Last year, Nomura bought Instinet, a US online brokerage company, for $1.2 billion.
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