Executive search firm Hogarth Davies Lloyd sued Nomura Holdings Inc.’s London unit over claims it didn’t pay for the recruitment of investment bankers from Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.

The London-based firm provided Nomura with research on job candidates in Lehman’s investment banking, equity capital markets, corporate broking, fixed income and foreign exchange divisions, the lawsuit said. Nomura hasn’t paid for the work or given the headhunting firm information on hiring that may have resulted from the research, according to the lawsuit.
“There is a dispute about the extent of Hogarth Davies Lloyd’s role in the Lehman Brothers’ acquisition and the fee that is properly due,” said Stephen Sidebottom, Nomura’s head of human resources for Europe, in an e-mailed statement today. “The claim is misconceived and Hogarth Davies Lloyd is seeking a commercially absurd sum.”
The work led Nomura, Japan’s largest brokerage, to hire “hundreds of candidates” from Lehman, according to the suit. Nomura acquired Lehman Brothers’s operations in Asia and Europe after the New York-based investment bank collapsed in September, taking on about 8,000 former Lehman employees.
Nomura contacted Hogarth Davies on the day Lehman filed for bankruptcy to ask about its senior investment bankers, according to the lawsuit.
Hogarth Davies and Nomura had agreed in 2007 that the Tokyo-based bank would pay 50,000 pounds ($82,000) a month and a fee of at least 25 percent of first-year pay for each executive retained.
The suit, filed in London’s High Court in April, seeks compensation for services and for breach of contract. It was previously reported by the London-based Times. Nomura ended the contract in March, according to the lawsuit.
The case is Hogarth Davies and Lloyd Ltd. v Nomura International Plc, 09-519, High Court of Justice, Queen’s Bnech Division Commercial Court.
(Source: Bloomberg)