Nomura just made a big change to its US investment banking business
The Japanese bank named Mike Hill head of mergers and acquisitions for the Americas, replacing Jonathan Rouner, according to a memo obtained by Business Insider. Hill will retain his role as head of corporate finance for the Americas.
Rouner is becoming a vice-chairman of investment banking. He will retain his role of head of international M&A with a focus on cross-border activity, according to the memo, which was sent Jim DeNaut, head of investment banking in Americas. Rouner will report to Hill and Nomura's global head of M&A Shinsuke Tsunoda.
Nomura's investment bank has struggled to gain traction outside of Japan, after it made a bid for global deals with the acquisition of Lehman Brother's operations outside of the US during the financial crisis.
The M&A market has been booming. A record-high $5.05 trillion in M&A activity took place in 2015, according to Dealogic. The year also saw a record 69 deals of over $10 billion, including 10 transactions of over $50 billion, also a record high.
Nomura ranked as the number two M&A house in its home market of Japan, behind Morgan Stanley, working on $56.7 billion of deal activity. It didn't make much a dent on the rankings outside of Japan, however.
In Europe, it finished 2015 ranked 19 for M&A in Europe, working on $35.9 billion of dea activity. In US, it didn't make it into the top 20.
A spokeswoman for Nomura confirmed the contents for the memo.