Macquarie Group is preparing to carve out some of its space at Riverplace Tower Downtown for use by financial services group Nomura, which took over one of the business units and will sublease in the offices.
The city is reviewing a permit application for Ajax Building Co. of Midway to add an interior wall on the fourth floor of the 28-story building at 1301 Riverplace Blvd. at an estimated project cost of $350,000.
Nomura will use an undefined portion of the 16,221-square-foot floor, although it appears in plans to be at least half.
Macquarie leases space on the fourth and fifth floors.
Preliminary work has begun. The city issued a permit Sept. 19 for Tokyo-based Nomura to create information technology space in the Southbank tower. Ajax Building Co. is the contractor for the $250,000 project.
Gensler is the architect and Meskel & Associates Engineering PLLC is the private plan reviewer for both permits.
Nomura is an international financial services group and an Asian investment bank.
A spokesman in New York City sent a statement Aug. 25 by email.
“A dozen or so Nomura employees are set to arrive later in the fall as part of the firm’s previously announced acquisition of Macquarie’s U.S. public asset management business. The increased geographical presence reveals our commitment to the U.S. market,” it said.
Australia-based Macquarie Group is a global financial services group that offers asset management, retail and business banking, wealth management, advisory services in financial markets and commodities.
A Macquarie spokesperson said Sept. 8 that 15 employees will be joining Nomura in the roles they have now, mostly support and back-office staff. The moves are expected when the sale is completed in the fourth quarter, which began Oct. 1.
The spokesperson said Macquarie Group has about 237 employees in Jacksonville working across teams that, in addition to tax and finance, include treasury, commodities, asset management, legal, compliance, operations and human resources.
It established a global financial services office in Jacksonville in early 2016.
In coming to Jacksonville, Macquarie agreed to create 123 jobs by the end of 2017 and pay an average wage of $64,356, in addition to benefits.
For the first 123 jobs, the Jacksonville City Council approved taxpayer incentives of $393,600, comprising a Qualified Target Industry grant of up to $147,600 and a training grant up to $246,000.
As of year-end 2017, Macquarie Global Services (USA) LLC employed 145 employees at Riverplace Tower, according to the city Office of Economic Development.
The company said in late 2019 that it had 272 employees there.
Sources familiar with the operation note that staffing levels are adjusted based on the needs of its businesses and operations.
Nomura-Macquarie deal
Nomura and Macquarie announced April 21 that Nomura agreed to buy three companies from Macquarie in a deal expected to close by the end of 2025.
The deal called for Nomura to buy Macquarie’s U.S. and European public asset management business, with about $180 billion (in U.S. dollars) in retail and institutional client assets across equities, fixed income and multi-asset strategies.
The three comprised Macquarie Management Holdings Inc., which owns the public asset management business in the U.S.; Macquarie Investment Management Holdings in Luxembourg; and Macquarie Investment Management Holdings in Austria.
The acquisition also provides Nomura with a scaled hub, headquartered in Philadelphia, to further grow its international investment management business.