NEW YORK - Japanese investment bank Nomura has hired two investment bankers to lead its coverage of mobility and automotive clients in Europe and the United States through its sustainability-focused division Greentech.

Former self-driving truck company executive Richard Hawwa started working at Nomura Greentech in San Francisco last week, and Alex Bleck will move to lead the bank's team in Frankfurt from his previous role at Deutsche Bank AG in July, a Nomura spokesman said.

Nomura hopes to capitalise on consolidation among incumbent vehicle and equipment makers and new companies that have proliferated in recent years, some of them funded by special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) which took Wall Street by storm in 2021.

"You saw in the "de-SPAC" furore a lot of standalone young electric vehicle companies raise capital. The reality is the path to success and scale, to build a standalone company, is dramatically complex," Duncan Williams, global co-head of Nomura Greentech, told Reuters.

"I think we are increasingly likely to see those companies being consolidated, being acquired by bigger businesses or potentially merging with one another," Williams added.

Williams pointed to tyre industry veteran Bridgestone Corp's $391 million purchase of software firm Azuga Holdings as an example a deal he expects to see more of as industry suppliers look to control more of the value chain.

Investment banks in Europe and the United States raked in more than $700 million in fees for deals in technologically-advanced mobility and transportation in 2021, Williams said, adding he expected the area to remain lucrative.

"Going forward we see ... there will be continuity around $300 million plus of fees to the street and obviously we are looking to build a material share around that," he said.

  - Reuters