StormHarbour Partners, a markets and financial advisory firm, has launched a broker-dealer in Tokyo, established through the integration of NSH Securities into StormHarbour Partners.
The new company, which is to be called StormHarbour Japan, is expected to be open for business on 1 December 2010, subject to regulatory approval.
Led by Michimasa Naka as chief executive officer and managing principal, StormHarbour Japan will extend the momentum the firm has been building in Asia Pacific this year after establishing broker-dealers in Singapore and Hong Kong in the first quarter.
StormHarbour Partners was founded in March 2009 and with the opening of the Japanese broker-dealer the firm will have an operational presence in six major financial centres including New York, London and Geneva.
The Tokyo team will provide institutional investors, corporates and high-net-worth clients in Japan with advice and services in sales and trading, structuring and advisory, capital markets, across fixed income, equities and alternative investment products.
Naka, who has over 20 years of investment banking and global markets experience, most recently served as deputy president and head of global investor sales for Citigroup Global Markets Japan, will lead a team of 13 senior professionals currently at StormHarbour Japan in Tokyo.
Antonio Cacorino, a managing principal of StormHarbour Partners, says: “Japan and Asia Pacific are critical markets that present StormHarbour and our clients with a unique set of opportunities. To fully capitalise on them it is imperative to have the best on-the-ground local market expertise. We are excited about having such as significant presence in Tokyo under Michimasa Naka, who, together with the entire StormHarbour Japan team, will be a powerful force in extending our brand and developing valuable client relationships across our businesses in Japan and beyond.”
Naka adds: “The historic changes that have taken place in the global financial markets in recent years have in turn had a material impact on the investment banking industry and particularly on the business models that were once employed. We believe that StormHarbour Japan has the right business model for this new environment and its presence will reinvigorate the Japanese financial market, creating real impact and value for issuers and institutional investor clients across the core businesses that we focus on.”
