Nomura Asset Management Co, a subsidiary of Nomura Holdings Inc, announced yesterday it would acquire ING Group’s Taiwan asset management unit, ING Securities Investment and Trust Co (ING SITC, 安泰投信).
“The acquisition is part of our ongoing expansion in Asia and represents a very important opportunity for us to enter the Taiwanese market,” Nomura Asset Management chief executive officer Toshihiro Iwasaki said in a statement.
An investment group led by former ING SITC chief executive officer Ashwin Mehta is helping conduct the acquisition, which is subject to regulatory approval, Nomura Asset Management said.
The company did not disclose the financial terms of the deal.
A Beijing-based communications official at the company said in an e-mail that Nomura Asset Management plans to retain calibrated ING SITC staffers but declined to give numbers.
By leveraging the firm’s existing capabilities, the Japanese buyer aims to build its presence in the local market, while deepening its overall investment management business in Asia, Nomura said.
The deal came more than a year after ING SITC offered NT$256 million (US$8.47 million) in payments in November 2012 to institutional and individual clients in Taiwan for losses related to investments in Ablerex Electronics Co (盈正豫順電子).
ING SITC had come under fire from lawmakers, the Council of Labor Affairs and the Labor Pension Fund Supervisory Committee for mishandling the Labor Insurance, Labor Pension and Public Service Pension funds in 2010.
Nomura and ING are expected to complete the transaction in the second quarter this year, pending regulatory approval, the Dutch company said in a separate statement, adding that the transaction is not expected to have a material impact on its results.
“The transaction announced today is in line with ING’s earlier announced strategy to divest its insurance and investment businesses,” the statement said.
ING SITC is among the top 10 investment management firms in Taiwan with approximately 5.2 billion euros (US$7.08 billion) in assets under management as of Oct. 31 last year, ING said.
Taiwan is one of the leading mutual fund markets in Asia, with offshore funds sized at NT$2.72 trillion in October and onshore funds at NT$1.97 trillion in November, according to Securities Investment Trust and Consulting Association’s statistics.
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