Majority of Lehman's Asia staff transfer to Nomura Holdings+

TOKYO, Oct. 14 Kyodo - Nomura Holdings Inc. said Tuesday a majority of employees at the Asian operations of failed Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. have made a fresh start as part of Japan's largest brokerage house.

Of around 3,000 employees at Lehman's Asia-Pacific franchises including Japan,
Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, India and Thailand, over 2,600 have signed a
contract to work for Nomura, a source close to the matter said.
Among the 3,000 employees, the bulk of the 1,300 based at Lehman's Japanese
unit in Tokyo have also accepted Nomura's offer. Meanwhile, legal procedures
are still ongoing for the transfer of Lehman employees in South Korea and
Taiwan, the source said.
''Together with our new colleagues who joined Nomura from Lehman Brothers, we
are now ready to work closely together to realize our goal of becoming a
world-class investment bank,'' Nomura President Kenichi Watanabe said in a
statement.
Following Lehman's collapse in September, Nomura has also agreed to acquire the
U.S. brokerage's operations in Europe and the Middle East. A large part of
about 2,500 employees in Europe joined Nomura as of Monday.