Two days before Taro Aso an outspoken conservative who has advocated a return to old-style government spending to stimulate Japan’s economy, was nominated to power, Nomura Holdings, Japan’s largest brokerage, reached a deal to buy the Asian operations of Lehman Brothers.

The Japanese bank announced it would pay US$225 million for Lehman’s equities and investment banking operations across Asia, which includes Japan and Australia. In bailing Lehman’s out, Nomura told the AFP it would offer employment to all 3,000 Lehman Brothers’ workers in Asia.

Like many Japanese financial institutions, which were looking to expand overseas after the 1997 Asian crisis, Normura said it was already in negotiations with Lehman before the New York Investment bank hit rock bottom.

“Our ability to capitalize on this opportunity in spite of such volatile markets reflects our financial strength and demonstrates how well we have managed the credit crisis,” Watanabe told the AFP.

Apparently, UK financial behmoths - Standard Chartered PLC and Barclays PLC were also in the race to acquire Lehman Brothers’ Asian operations.

Barclays sealed the US$1.75 billion deal acquiring Lehman’s investment banking and trading units, employing about 9,000 people in the United States, and a skyscraper in Manhattan.

Last year, Japan’s Nomura bought Instinet Inc., a US online brokerage firm, for US$1.2 billion in a bid to expand overseas.

A day after its Asian acquisition, Nomura announced that it also agreed to take over some of the Lehman’s European and Middle Eastern operations, saving about 2,500 jobs, at a nominal cost.

“It’s a positive for Nomura as they can hang their sign throughout Asia, Europe and the Middle East,” Makoto Haga, a Tokyo-based hedge fund manager at Wing Asset Management Co. told Bloomberg “Nomura managed to get both name value and a franchise from Lehman.”

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