Japan's Daiwa targets 50% jump in M&A advisory with US focus

Daiwa Securities

31/05/2023 10:37

By Makiko Yamazaki
       TOKYO, May 31 (Reuters) - Japan's Daiwa Securities Group
Inc  8601.T  aims to boost annual revenue from the M&A advisory
business by 50% in eight years by hiring more bankers and
acquiring boutique firms to try to expand its presence in the
United States. 
    The second-largest Japanese brokerage and investment bank is
targeting global M&A (merger-and-acquisition) revenue of at
least 70 billion yen ($518.33 million) in the year ending March
2031, compared to 46.7 billion yen for the financial year just
ended, it said on Wednesday.
    "The M&A business is where we can expect big growth without
using much of our assets," Chief Executive Seiji Nakata told a
strategy briefing on Wednesday.
    "We plan to allocate our resources vigorously to expand
mainly in the United States, potentially buying boutique M&A
firms," he said, citing infrastructure, industrials, consumers
and health care as sectors of focus.
    Daiwa said it expected to increase the number of M&A bankers
it employs over the next eight years to 900 from 650.
    Its focus has been on M&A advisory for mid-cap deals worth
between 50 billion yen and 100 billion yen, a segment relatively
sheltered from inflation-driven market turbulence.
    Among Japanese firms, Mizuho Financial Group Inc  8411.T 
said this month it would buy U.S. M&A advisory firm Greenhill &
Co Inc  GHL.N  for $550 million, including debt, as it pursues a
bigger share of the world's largest investment-banking fee pool.
    ($1 = 135.0500 yen)

 (Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki; editing by Barbara Lewis)
 ((Makiko.Yamazaki@thomsonreuters.com; +81-3-4563-2805;))