Few investment banks seeking to build a European business have experienced the ups and downs of Nomura. The giant Japanese brokerage was one of the leading Eurobond underwriters in the late 1980s but faded when Japan's bubble economy burst. The firm enjoyed a resurgence of sorts in the '90s, when the principal finance business, run by Guy Hands, pulled off a string of blockbuster deals, but the bank parted company with the British financier after a hotel investment turned sour. Now Nomura is hoping it's third time lucky. It is making a big play to build up its European capital markets business and become the "Asian house of choice" for European companies. Nomura executives want it to be the first firm that European CEOs think of when seeking access to Asian markets for capital or acquisitions. "From the point of view of a European CEO, Europe and the U.S. can be covered by bulge-bracket banks, but who can cover Asia?" asks Yugo Ishida, CEO of Nomura International, the firm's London-based European arm.
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