Nomura to Buy Instinet for $1.2 Billion

Nomura Holdings has agreed to acquire Instinet for roughly $1.2 billion, from Silver Lake Partners, a private equity firm that has a 70% stake in Instinet, The Wall Street Journal reports.Silver Lake acquired its stake only 11 months ago for $208 million from the Nasdaq Stock Market. Nomura outbid Citigroup and State Street, sources told The Journal.

The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of next year. Instinet CEO Edward J. Nicoll will continue in his role, as will other senior executives, with Nomura running Instinet as a wholly owner subsidiary.

“Nomura is one of the world’s premier financial services firms, and we are excited to join its family,” Nicoll said in a statement. “This deal will allow us to continue offering our institutional clients around the world the high quality execution services that they have come to expect from Instinet, while adding access to Nomura’s various investment product offerings and global liquidity pool.”