Can Jefferies and SMBC replicate MS-MUFG swagger?

There’s a clear role model for US-Japan tie-ups in New York investment banking. Can the new partnership between Jefferies and SMBC follow it?

Just weeks after taking control of Fullerton India Credit, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group has shown a further example of its international ambitions by taking a stake in Jefferies and striking a strategic alliance with the US-based investment bank.

Sumitomo Mitsui – known at the group level as SMBC, though more commonly referred to by analysts as SMFG – will take a 4.9% stake in the firm, worth $386 million, based on the Jefferies closing price of July 13.

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