Nomura Holdings has apparently agreed to buy the European operations of Lehman Brothers. Supposedly management just held a meeting with IBD, and announced that 500 out of the roughly 700+ person staff will be retained, with one month of severance offered to those left of the deal.
The company is still in the firing phase of the rebuilding process. Nomura Holdings cut a team of London proprietary traders focused on stocks as Japan’s largest brokerage scales back in Europe, said two people with knowledge of the matter. The group of about five traders was part of Nomura’s Angel Lane Principal Strategies, a unit that makes speculative wagers on markets with capital provided by the Tokyo-based bank, according to the people, who declined to be identified because the job cuts haven’t been announced. The team departing this week was led by Anthony Medina, a volatility trader who used options to bet on fluctuations in the prices of stocks, the people said. The departures are part of Nomura’s plan to reduce costs by $1 billion, with almost half the savings coming from Europe. The revamp in strategy follows a four-year struggle to build a business overseas following the purchase of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s European and Asian units in 2008. Nomura Said To Cut Team Of Proprietary Traders Focused On Stocks [Bloomberg]
London employees are not the only ones being sat down for uncomfortable conversations. "FYI: Heavy cuts at Nomura across banking and equities today in the US as well."
Employees are said to be expecting something resembling a massacre tomorrow around 10 or so, depending on when people roll into the office. From the front lines: "Nomura London cuts happening tomorrow starting 10ish. It's going to be a bloodbath."