By James A. Loyola
BDO Unibank, Inc. (BDO) has arrived an agreement on the fundamental principles to buy out Nomura Holdings, Inc.’s (Nomura) entire holdings in their joint venture BDO Nomura Securities, Inc.
BDO currently owns 51 percent of BDO Nomura, with Nomura (through Nomura Asia Investment (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.) holding the remaining 49 percent.
The original joint venture arrangement was inked in January 2016, with BDO Nomura commencing operations in October 2016.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, BDO said the transaction will enable BDO to consolidate its securities brokerage business into BDO Securities Corporation, which is being reorganized into a full service brokerage firm with an expanded product offering to include non-equity securities.
The transaction is subject to further discussion and final agreements, in addition to any required corporate and regulatory approvals.