Neuberger Berman Boosts Japanese Assets, Expects Further Growth

Date: Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Author: Bloomberg

Neuberger Berman Group LLC, the New York-based investment firm that bought itself out of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., boosted its assets from Japanese clients by 15 percent this year on demand from pension funds.

Assets under management from Japanese clients stood at $2.3 billion at the end of March, compared with $2 billion at the end of December, said George Walker, the company’s chairman and chief executive officer. Neuberger Berman plans to add “a few more” investment professionals in its Tokyo office in the coming years to meet rising demand from clients, Walker said, declining to elaborate further.

“Importance is high for the Japanese market,” Walker, 40, said in an interview yesterday in Tokyo where he was meeting clients. “The fact that our former parent went through this crisis, and through that, additional clients have entrusted us with additional capital, suggests to me that we’re on the right path. I think we’ll continue to increase.”

Neuberger Berman, with about $173 billion in assets globally, is seeing more demand from Japanese corporate and public pension funds seeking to invest in the firm’s global strategy funds to limit risks as governments around the world phase out stimulus measures introduced to fight recession.

The firm, which entered the Japanese market in 2004, has about 80 clients in the country now, both pension funds and financial institutions, compared with 30 in 2005. In 2004, assets stood at $293 million.

Asia Expansion

Japanese pension funds are showing an appetite for products in fixed income, global equities, Chinese stocks and alternative investments including hedge funds and private equity, Walker said.

Neuberger Berman also plans to add more staff in the Asia- Pacific region as it expands, Walker said. The firm has about 50 employees in offices in Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo, he said.

Founded in 1939, Neuberger Berman was purchased from Lehman after the investment bank filed for the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history in September 2008.

Walker said there are no immediate plans to take the firm public, in response to a question about the possibility of a share sale.

“We’re very happy as a private firm,” he said.