Oct. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Nomura Holdings Inc., Japan's largest investment bank, will lose roughly 60 percent of the Japanese equity employees acquired when it bought the Asia-Pacific business of bankrupt Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., three people familiar with the matter said.

About 100 of the 170 workers in Lehman's Japan equity research, sales and electronic-trading unit plan to leave the Tokyo-based company, the people said. The departures include two Lehman managing directors, Kazutoshi Ohkubo and Koichiro Chiwata, who are joining London-based Barclays Plc.

Global finance firms including Barclays and Mizuho Financial Group Inc. are picking up Lehman employees after the firm failed three weeks ago in the biggest U.S. bankruptcy on record. Nomura, which purchased Lehman's Asian, Middle Eastern and European operations, is trying to hold on to Lehman employees with incentive packages, and appointed Chief Operating Officer Takumi Shibata last week to lead the integration.

``There are some Lehman people that won't feel comfortable within a merged corporate culture,'' said Christian Takushi, who helps manage more than $400 million in Japanese equities at Swisscanto Asset Management AG in Zurich. ``You can't do whatever you want at Nomura just because you have a big name.''

Barclays last month agreed to buy Lehman's North American investment-banking operations and Barclays Capital Japan Ltd. plans to start an equity business in the country. Barclays' Tokyo-based spokesman, Yu Sakakibara, confirmed Chiwata's move, and said the bank also hired Lehman banking analyst Junsuke Senoguchi, chief strategist Hidenao Miyajima, utilities analyst Masanori Maruo and pharmaceutical analyst Toshihide Yoda.

Electronic Trading Unit

At least 40 workers in equity research and sales in Japan had not signed a contract with Nomura by an Oct. 3 deadline, the people familiar with the situation said, declining to be identified because personnel matters are confidential.

Lehman's 15-person electronic-trading department in Japan is leaving for Mizuho Financial's securities unit, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said. Nomura in a Sept. 22 statement highlighted electronic trading as one area where Lehman has been a ``strong player.''

Nomura's Tokyo-based spokesman, Shuji Sato, declined to comment, as did Lehman's Tokyo-based spokeswoman, Keiko Sugai. Masako Shiono, a spokeswoman for Mizuho in Tokyo, said the bank is ``always looking for talented people,'' declining to comment on the Lehman hires.

String of Departures

Lehman has suffered a string of departures in Asia and Europe since Nomura's purchase was announced. Anthony Steains, Lehman's head of industrials in Asia, left for Blackstone Group LP, manager of the world's biggest buyout firm, taking a team of Lehman bankers with him. James Chapman joined New York-based Merrill Lynch & Co. as head of Asia power investment banking.

In Europe, Citadel Investment Group LLC, the $19 billion hedge-fund firm run by Kenneth Griffin, hired three senior executives from Lehman's bond-trading department.

Nomura faces the risk of more people leaving and that's the ``last thing'' it wants to see, said Azuma Ohno, a Tokyo-based analyst at Credit Suisse Group. ``Nomura will make further efforts to keep Lehman people by offering competitive compensation and attractive management.''

Chief Executive Kenichi Watanabe, 55, is restarting an overseas push that was rolled back by his predecessor in 2007, as the Wall Street crisis produces targets for Japanese firms that avoided the worst of the credit crunch. Nomura said earlier this year it aims to quadruple annual revenue from Asia outside Japan to 100 billion yen ($990 million) within five years.

Lehman was the 10th-ranked adviser on mergers and acquisitions in Asia including Japan for the year ended Dec. 31, 2007, while Nomura was No. 13, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. In 2008, both companies slipped, with Lehman falling to No. 17 and Nomura to 18th.

To contact the reporter on this story: Takahiko Hyuga in Tokyo at thyuga@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 8, 2008 02:55 EDT