TOKYO, April 4 Reuters Nomura Holdings aims to expand its U.S. credit portfolio to 50 billion within 10 years and may seek small acquisitions to beef up its private credit business, the top Japanese investment bank39;s U.S. asset management chief said.

The goal is line with Nomura39;s strategy to increase investments in private markets and diversify sources of revenue to cushion the impact from wild fluctuations in the performance of its global trading business.

We want to definitely grow this U.S. credit business collectively, quite substantially over the next five to 10 years to 50 billion or more in assets under management, Robert Stark, who heads the U.S. asset management business, told Reuters in an interview.

Nomura Capital Management NCM currently has 35 billion assets under management, the vast majority of which is a highyield bond portfolio, according to Stark, who is also the chief executive of the 80member unit.

Nomura last month created NCM to combine its 33yearold highyield bond business and a private credit business that it launched just two years ago.

On the private credit side, the entire buildup had been purely organic as it hired 25 people over the last two years, but it39;s more likely that we do more significant moves in terms of team liftouts or small acquisitions, Stark said. It39;s time for the next phase.

He said the unit39;s focus will remain the same, on more niche areas such as assetbased lending and real estate lending instead of large…