Nomura Holdings Inc. agreed to purchase Macquarie Group Ltd.’s US and European public asset management business for $1.8 billion, marking the Japanese brokerage’s most significant overseas acquisition since it bought Lehman Brothers assets in 2008.

Tokyo-based Nomura has been expanding in asset management in a bid to generate more stable income and reduce its reliance on volatile trading and investment banking.

Nomura has agreed to buy Macquarie’s US and European public asset management business as it expands globally and takes advantage of a generational shift in Japanese investment habits. The $1.8bn all-cash deal,