Mizuho Financial Group is disrupting Nomura Holdings' dominance in Japan's equity capital markets by leveraging its expanded US investment banking presence to secure key roles in major global IPOs. The bank has landed significant positions in three blockbuster deals — Anthropic PBC (seeking to raise up to $3.5 billion), SpaceX ($2.2 billion), and PayPay Inc. — using a "public offering without listing" (POWL) structure that allows foreign issuers to tap Japanese retail investors directly.
Japan's households hold roughly ¥2.4 quadrillion ($15 trillion) in financial assets, with about half in cash and deposits, creating a deep pool of retail savings hungry for yield. Mizuho's strategy combines its US franchise — built over more than a decade and bolstered by the Greenhill & Co. acquisition — with its domestic distribution network, creating what Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Michael Makdad calls a "potentially powerful flywheel."
On this year's global equity league table, Mizuho ranks 18th (highest among Japanese banks) versus Nomura at 21st. While Nomura still commands over a quarter of Japan's shrinking domestic IPO market — now at a 13-year low — Mizuho's global reach is proving decisive for cross-border deals. Nomura notes it has handled over 30 POWL transactions since 2001 and emphasizes investor protection.
Source: Bloomberg Markets · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing