Nomura to buy Lehman's India operations, to retain staff

New York, Oct 3 (PTI) Japanese financial services major Nomura Holdings is all set to buy the Indian operations of beleaguered Lehman Brothers and is likely to retain nearly 2,000 strong workforce, media reports said Friday.

"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,"
Japan's business daily The Nikkei reported.

The back office operations of Lehman based in Mumbai has
more than 2,000 employees and handle the investment bank's
information technology and R&D activities among others. In
addition, the back office was also handling trading settlement
duties.

Meanwhile, AFP said that the Japanese firm "reportedly
decided to make the extra investment as the Indian base has
talented IT workers and has functioned as the heart of
Lehman's cutting-edge systems".

Battered by huge losses in the American mortgage market,
Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy protection two weeks
back with the U.S. regulator. Since then, the firm has been
disposing off its assets and Nomura snapped up the investment
bank's Asia-Pacific, European and Middle East operations.

Reportedly, the number of Lehman employees taken by
Nomura would be about 8,000, once the Japanese firm acquires
Indian operations.

Lehman's North American operations were acquired by
British banking major Barclays. MORE PTI RAM