Nomura Plots LatAm Comeback

Japan’s Nomura Securities seeks an expanded role in LatAm and is deciding how best to allocate new staff and resources to a region where it was active until the late-2001 Argentine debt crisis. “We are now considering what we can do in the emerging markets and in Latin America,” Takeo Sumino, COO at Nomura Holding America, tells LatinFinance. “We have been very quiet in Latin America for a while – just because Japanese investors had a bad memory of the Latin American crisis – so they’ve been shying away from Latin American credit,” he says. Awareness is increasing as more Japanese firms do business in LatAm. Sumino says Brazil is the first area of focus for his bank. Nomura Asset Management expects to close this month a $1.0bn-$1.5bn Brazilian infrastructure fund marketed to Japanese investors. “It will be one of the first of its kind in terms of dedicating a fund towards Brazilian corporate equity,” Sumino says. He adds that fixed income underwriting in the region is a strong option for the bank to consider. Nomura jointly led a JPY150bn ($1.7bn) 2019 December bond sale for Mexico. Colombia also issued in yen last year with a JBIC guarantee, and bankers say that quasi-sovereigns or even corporates could diversify their funding base by tapping the Japanese investor base. Sumino says Brazil is a leading candidate for yen issuance, and Chile and Peru should also be able to access the samurai market. Nomura also wants a bigger presence in LatAm cross-border M&A. Nomura’s New York office has grown from a staff of 650 to about 1,300 in the last 5 months, Sumino says. The bank has not yet decided about adding in LatAm, where a Sao Paulo rep office houses 2 bankers.