Nomura's Meissner Quits Less Than Two Years After Negotiating Lehman Sale

Nomura Holdings Inc.’s deputy global head of investment banking, Christian Meissner, quit less than two years after he helped negotiate the sale of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s European unit to the Japanese brokerage.

The bank named Tarun Jotwani Chief Executive Officer for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, a spokesman for the Tokyo- based lender said, reading from an internal memorandum. William Vereker and Hiroyuki Suzuki will become joint global heads of investment banking. The spokesman declined to be identified.

Meissner leaves a month after Nomura named Jesse Bhattal president of a new wholesale division in a bid to stem the flow of departures by former Lehman bankers. Jotwani, who will report to Bhattal, will replace Sadeq Sayeed, who said last month he would step down as CEO of Nomura’s European operations.

Nomura acquired Lehman’s European and Asian equities and investment banking units after the U.S. firm collapsed in 2008 to expand worldwide. The firm earned more from its international division in the fiscal second quarter than from its home country for the first time.

At least five senior employees left Nomura in Europe since guaranteed bonuses negotiated at the time of the sale were paid to former Lehman workers. The departures include Sigurbjorn Thorkelsson, Nomura’s head of equities for Asia Pacific, and Thomas Siegmund, the firm’s co-head of fixed income for Asia outside Japan.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ambereen Choudhury in London at achoudhury@bloomberg.net;

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Christian Meissner

Stuart Clarke/Bloomberg

A file photo shows Christian Meissner, then co-head of Goldman Sachs European Equity Capital Markets poses at a seminar in London.

A file photo shows Christian Meissner, then co-head of Goldman Sachs European Equity Capital Markets poses at a seminar in London. Photographer:Stuart Clarke/Bloomberg