The new office will be used to promote and market the Japanese asset manager’s international products and funds to sovereign wealth funds, pensions and other institutional investors and also extending its services to new markets.
Tarek Fadlallah has been appointed as chief executive of Nomura Asset Management Middle East in Dubai. Fadlallah has over 25 years of experience in the financial sector including the past 16 years in the Gulf.
The asset management company has been operational since 14 May with a small team in place, Fadlallah responded to a query from International Adviser.
On the expansion plans, Fadlallah said: “[We have a] small team in place, supported by considerable resources in London and Tokyo, and we plan to grow it in line with business opportunities.
“We already manage nearly $7bn for GCC investors, mainly in Japanese and Asian equities as well as global fixed income portfolios. We will focus on these and related high conviction strategies,” he added.
Nomura has been managing sovereign wealth fund assets for over 25 years in the region. The firm also manages Gulf Cooperation Council stocks through its Arabian fund, which was first, distributed to Japanese retail investors in 2007 as well as its Frontier and Emerging Market funds.
In a statement, Fadlallah said: “Our decision to open a Nomura Asset Management office in the region reflects our ongoing commitment to the Middle East.
“We are looking to reinforce our activities and offer investors improved access to our world class products. The development of the NAM Middle East business is a key step towards achieving this goal.”
Nomura Asset Management is headquartered in Tokyo with assets under management of $291bn. It has regional offices in Hong Kong, London, Dubai, Singapore, Frankfurt, Seoul, Sydney, Shanghai, New York and Malaysia.
Recently, Nomura Holdings also established a joint venture in the Shanghai-based Pilot Free Trade Zone through which it will provide information on financial markets and products to local institutions.
