Nomura Holdings, a financial holding company in Japan, has recently announced that it will buy Greentech Capital Advisors, a mergers and acquisitions advisory company from the U.S. that specializes in renewable energy. This will be the company’s first overseas acquisition since it last bought Lehman Brothers’ operations post the global financial crisis.

Apparently, the company will announce an agreement for the acquisition of Greentech Capital Advisors, for over 10 billion yen (US$92 million), soon. The company was founded in 2009 and has been advising companies on acquisitions, mergers and several other transactions across fields like wind power, solar and next-generation vehicles.

Greentech happens to have an established presence within the field where M&A activity has been escalating as businesses and investors have been paying closer attention to social, governance and environmental factors. Nomura will be taking advantage of the acquisition to trigger a renewed expansion overseas as it had been focusing far too long on the home market after its failed attempt at becoming a top global player in the aftermath of the 2008 crisis.

Greentech has been focusing primarily on the U.S., but working with Nomura will allow it to expand into both Asia and Europe. The deal will be enhancing the M&A advisory business of Nomura in Japan wherein it ranks second, right after Goldman Sachs.

Nomura had spent $1 billion for a 41% share in asset-management company American Century Investments in 2016. However, building an investment banking business in the United States has been a challenge for Nomura.

The largest brokerage has put down plans for the use of capital-raising services and M&A advisory to augment its operations overseas. Nomura has recently decided to make Kentaro Okuda as the next CEO and president of the company as a sign of strategic change overseas. Okuda was the former head of operations run in the U.S. and is an alumnus from Wharton School.

Source Credit- https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Business-deals/Nomura-to-buy-Greentech-in-1st-foreign-M-A-since-Lehman