Nomura, Japan's largest brokerage house, has agreed to buy Lehman Brothers' IT support companies in India for an undisclosed sum — a move that further strengthens its hold on the operations of the collapsed Wall Street bank.

The acquisition of three Mumbai-based IT companies, which provide back office and IT support services, will secure the jobs of 3,000 Lehman employees whose futures were left uncertain after the bank was forced to file for bankruptcy last month.

Among the staff are 1,200 IT specialists. In a statement, Nomura said the deal would "significantly enhance" its IT functions and support operations in areas including financial control and risk management, and provide analytical support for its businesses.

Kenichi Wanata, president and chief executive of Nomura, said: "The acquisition...is an important component of our global expansion strategy. It will allow us to significantly enhance our global service platform to support the business expansion that the combined talents of Lehman and Nomura will drive going forward."

Nomura has already agreed to buy Lehman's operations in Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Europe. The Indian subsidiaries were not included in the earlier transactions because they are part of Lehman's North American business, which is being bought by Barclays.

Several Japanese financial groups have moved swiftly to expand overseas in recent months, buying stakes and assets from Western banks left battered by the credit crunch. Last week Japan's biggest banking group, Mitsubishi UFJ, took a 21 per cent stake in Morgan Stanley.

Nomura will buy all the assets, as well as the issued and outstanding shares, of the three Indian businesses — Lehman Brothers Services India Private, Lehman Brothers Financial Services (India), and Lehman Brothers Structured Finance Services Private.

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