Nomura Securities to buy Instinet

Nomura Securities seems set to make a big move into the institutional market. Its deal is to buy Instinet from Silver Lake Partners, just a year after the equity fund took it private. The timing may be fortuitous for all. Let's face it, execution services are hot--look at the stock exchange valuations. Instinet is expected to make a pretax profit of about $80 million in 2006, according to various reports. This will give Nomura a branded presence in executions services for hedge funds and other asset managers, an important beachhead in a market it obviously has designs on. Globally, it seems to want to be more of a prime broker. The downside is that the ever savvy Silver Lake Partners likely sold at the top--trading volume may have no place to go buy down or sideways. That doesn't mean that the deal will not be a good longterm one for Nomura, however.  

For more on the deal:
- Here's an AP update