Mizuho Financial Group Inc. plans to dramatically ramp up its expansion into private markets to tap growing demand from Japanese institutional investors, an echo of the boom that unfolded in the US two decades ago, according to a top executive.
The lender’s $460 billion money-management arm is considering buying a stake in a US or European firm specializing in alternative investments, Noriyuki Sato, the head of asset management at Japan’s third-largest bank said in an interview. The company aims to boost alternative assets under management fivefold to 20 trillion yen ($135 billion) in less than 10 years, he said.