Nomura has sold its Swedish technology outpost to local trading IT supplier Cinnober.
The deal includes 40 specialists in developing equity trading applications and platforms based out of the Northern Swedish university town of Umeå.
Niomura inherited the unit when it acquired the European operations of defunct investment bank Lehman Brothers European in 2008. The office was responsible for developing the LSE MTF system Baikal, among others.
The main focus for Nomura's Umeå team has been developing technology applications and platforms for data capture and analysis in equities trading, giving Nomura's clients detailed analytics in real time. The team has also delivered platforms in compliance with financial transparency standards that provide trade reporting, market statistics and information.
Mark Butterfield, chief information officer, Emea at Nomura says: "Whilst our Umeå Technology unit has been of huge value to our business, the demands of building a true global business has led us to determine a new global sourcing strategy within technology. A key part of this is focusing our development effort into our core global centres."
Last week Nomura announced plans to overhaul its electronic trading business across the globe, shuttering its Instinet subsidiary in Tokyo and shifting its US desks to the agency brokerage's technology platform in New York.
For Cinnober, the acquisition provides new expertise in execution services and the development of high-volume, low-latency data warehousing. The deal also includes a transitional support agreement for Nomura's ongoing system operations, developed and managed from the Umeå office.
Nils-Robert Persson, executive chairman of Cinnober, says: "Cinnober has achieved international success over the past decade working from a single office with almost 200 employees in central Stockholm. Our growth plans call for getting more people onboard as well."