Nomura Holdings to raise up to 510 bil. yen via public stock offerings

TOKYO, Sept. 24 Kyodo -
Nomura Holdings Inc. said Thursday it will raise up to 510 billion yen through
public offerings of new shares both at home and abroad in October to bolster
its financial base especially for overseas operations.
''The new funds to be raised will be allocated to strengthen businesses we are
pursuing in the Asian region including Japan and Europe, as well as in the
United States,'' Japan's biggest brokerage house said in a statement.
The move to reinforce Nomura's financial base comes as regulators worldwide are
toughening capital requirements for financial institutions.
Nomura already raised around 280 billion yen in March through a public offering
of new common shares.
With Nomura again deciding on a massive increase of capital in a little more
than half a year, industry analysts said the move may prompt major banking
groups to boost their capital.
Nomura will issue 400 million shares abroad. Focusing their sales on investors
in Europe, it is aiming to procure about 250 billion yen.
The Tokyo-based brokerage will also aim to raise funds of similar scale in Japan.
Nomura has been struggling in its financial standing, reporting in April that
it incurred a record group net loss of 709.44 billion yen in fiscal 2008 due to
the impact of the global financial turmoil and costs related to taking over
part of failed U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.
To enhance its global service platform, Nomura bought in September Lehman's
operations in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region including Japan.
==Kyodo