Nomura (NMR) Announces Share Repurchase Worth $1.4 Billion
Zacks Investment Research | Jun 19, 2019 02:26AM ET
Nomura Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:NMR) recently announced that it will reduce its stake in its affiliate — Nomura Research Institute — after admitting that the latter was involved in a market-sensitive information leak. Per a statement issued on Tuesday, Japan’s biggest brokerage company will use the proceeds from this reduction to buy back shares worth nearly 150 billion yen ($1.4 billion). The news was first reported by Bloomberg.
Nomura’s stake in NRI will now be 23.1%, down from 36.6%.
Simultaneously, the company has withdrawn a proposal to nominate its chairman to key board roles in an effort to strengthen governance just days before its annual shareholder meeting, which is scheduled on Jun 24.
Last month, the Financial Services Agency (“FSA”) issued a "business improvement order" against Nomura after the company confirmed that some damaging information related to listing and delisting of stocks had been leaked. An employee at NRI, who was on a Tokyo Stock Exchange panel, was looking at the overhaul of the exchanges’ section of listed stocks. He probably leaked information about the potential changes to a chief strategist at the firm’s main securities unit. Later on, employees at Nomura shared that information with institutional clients.
Following the FSA’s order, Nomura said that its CEO, Koji Nagai, would take a 30% pay cut for three months to take responsibility for the same. However, Nagai still pledged to remain the CEO.
Per a statement issued recently, Nomura withdrew its proposal to re-elect chairman Nobuyuki Koga as the head of compensation and nominating committees. In fact, the company has been asking shareholders to vote in favor of outside director Hiroshi Kimura for these positions.
Notably, proxy advisory firms Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services (“ISS”) are also urging shareholders to vote against Koga. Glass Lewis said that oversight of executive performance and pay “is likely more complicated and less rigorous when an inside director chairs the committee.”
The ISS also recommends that shareholders vote against the re-election of Nagai because Nagai “should be held responsible for the information leakage incident.”
Shares of Nomura have lost 8.9% on the NYSE over the past six months against 8.5% growth recorded by the Zacks Investment Research
Get The News You Want
Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.