TOKYO (Bloomberg) -- Nomura Holdings Inc., Japan’s biggest investment bank, will raise 2.1 billion euros ($3.3 billion) to buy European assets including equity and loans that lost value after the U.S. mortgage crisis roiled global credit markets.

Nomura will put up 25 percent of the money and raise the rest from investors in Japan, Europe and the Middle East, Michiyori Fujiwara, spokesman at the securities firm, said in a telephone interview on Sunday. The funds will go to buy assets in markets including Spain, France, Germany and the U.K, Fujiwara said. The Nikkei newspaper reported Nomura’s plan earlier Sunday.
Nomura is boosting investment abroad after a record fourth- quarter loss, seeking opportunities to profit from the credit collapse that’s led to $387 billion of write-downs and losses at the world’s biggest banks and securities firms. Chief Executive Officer Kenichi Watanabe said last month Tokyo-based Nomura will raise 200 billion yen to buy stakes in foreign investment banks.
“It’s positive for Nomura to seek profit overseas when local brokerage commissions aren’t going to grow,” said Makoto Haga, a Tokyo-based hedge fund manager at Wing Asset Management Co. “Whether they’ll succeed is a different question. Nomura has less experience than private-equity funds in restructuring, and finding the right targets is difficult.”
Provisions set aside in case bond insurers can’t cover losses on securities led Nomura to make a net loss of 154 billion yen for the three months ended March 31. The investment bank’s stock has fallen 5.5 percent this year, compared with the 3.9 percent gain by closest rival Daiwa Securities Group Inc.
--------Koha fails
Watanabe replaced Nobuyuki Koga in April, after five years of stagnant profit and the collapse of a U.S. mortgage business. Nomura’s return on equity, a financial yardstick used to measure profitability, fell to minus 3.25 percent after the fourth- quarter loss, compared with an average 14 percent for the world’s 20 largest banks, according to Bloomberg data.
Nomura dropped to 41st among financial advisers on global mergers last year, with a market share of less than 1 percent, Bloomberg data show. That compares with its rank of 20th and a 1.7 percent share for 2003.
Watanabe has said he aims to increase annual pretax earnings to 500 billion yen during the next three years by improving Nomura's local stock broking, global investment banking and fixed income and equity trading. The company will seek to boost domestic client assets to 110 trillion yen, from 72 trillion yen in March.