Nomura buys Lehman’s India back-office

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Mumbai, Oct 3: Ending days of suspense over the buyout of Lehman Brothers business in India after the investment bank filed for bankruptcy in the US, Japanese company Nomura Securities announced on Friday that it has acquired the back-office operations of the firm in India.

“Nomura Holdings Inc has reached an agreement to acquire, for several billion yen, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc’s Indian operations that have handled the bankrupt US firm’s global back-office duties and information technology development,” said a Japanese business daily. However, the deal amount was not known immediately. Others who were interested in buying out Lehman Brothers India’s operations were a few foreign institutions like Barclays and BNP Paribas. Employees at Lehman Brothers in India heaved a sigh of relief as they received the news of the takeover. “We have received the news of the deal being finalised. This is so much of a relief to us,” said an employee of Lehman Brothers based in Mumbai.

However, they are now waiting for an official confirmation from the top management. “We have still not got a formal mail. Nomura officials are already here, watching the operations closely,” added the employee. “We are extremely eager to learn about the new workforce, management, designation and above all the pay scales, if at all, there is any kind of tampering with it,” the employee said. There are also reports of the Japanese firm making extra investments in India.

FE had already reported on the possible buyout of Lehman Brothers by Nomura Securities on September 30, 2008.

Earlier, senior company officials allayed fears of the employees, saying that Japanese investment banker Nomura was likely to buy out Lehman. The news brings relief to about 2,000 back-office employees of Lehman based in Mumbai. They handle different operations including cash reconciliation, trade settlements and information technology for the investment bank.