Financial executive Founding partner at Fiducia VC
Shibata Takumi (Japanese: 柴田拓美) is a Japanese fund manager who is one of Japan's most high-profile financial executives.[1] He is currently founding partner at Fiducia, a venture capital fund based in Tokyo.
Previously, he was president and CEO of Nikko Asset Management for six years and had a 37-year career at Nomura Holdings including as chief operating officer (COO) from 2008 until 2012.[2][3][4]
Shibata joined Nomura Securities in 1976.[7] In 2005, he was appointed president of Nomura Asset Management, and became vice president of the holding company in 2008.[8] He was a key player in the company's internationalization strategy.[9] During the 2008 global financial crisis, Shibata was the driving force behind the acquisition of Lehman Brothers' European and Asian operations and led their integration as the company's vice president.[7][10][11][12] The deal transformed Nomura into a global player and strengthened its hold on the Japanese market; however, it resulted in steep losses in some divisions.[13] The deal led to Nomura's entrance to the Indian market.[14] He announced his resignation from Nomura as COO in 2012.[1][15] At the time, there was an investigation into alleged insider trading at the company involving leaks of confidential information to clients ahead of IPOs.[16] After transitioning out of the COO role in August 2012, he continued to advise the company before fully retiring in March 2013 after 37 years with the company.[8][17] During his time at the company, he spent 17 years outside of Japan including 12 years in London along with stings in Hong Kong and Boston.[5]
In June 2013, Nikko Asset Management, then Japan's third largest fund manager, announced that Shibata would become its chairman starting the following month.[11][18] He took over as president and CEO of the company in January 2014.[19][20] In the role, he focused on courting international investment with multi-asset products, which he said are attractive to global investors seeking diversified strategies.[21] Following the 2016 Brexit referendum, he expressed confidence that London would remain a global financial center.[22] In 2017, Shibata recommended high-growth sectors while stock picking and touted Nikko's global robotics fund which raised roughly $6 billion USD and was the first of its kind in Japan.[23] He stepped down as president and CEO after six years with the company in March 2019.[24]
Shibata went on to found Fiducia in June 2020.[25] The company announced its first fund, the Fiducia GrowthTech Fund, in February 2022 with a focus on deep tech and healthcare solutions.[26][27] The fund launched with initial capital of ¥3.3 billion JPY but expected to raise ¥10 billion JPY within its first year of operations.[28]