Japan's largest securities firm, Nomura, is to pay $888 million for a 15 per cent stake in Fortress Investment Group, to expand sales of the US firm's hedge funds and other products in Asia. New York-based Fortress, which offers alternative investment products including private equity and hedge funds has $26 billion under management, according to a statement by the two firms. Fortress, which counts 2004 vice presidential candidate John Edwards among its senior advisors, manages $9.4 billion of hedge funds, $13.6 billion of private equity funds and $3 billion of property-related investments. Separately, Nomura Asset Management, Japan's biggest fund manager, has set up a local unit in Kuala Lumpur. "We plan to offer our core Asian equity investment product and diversify our product range to meet the various needs of investors," said Nomura Asset Management KL managing director Nor Rejina Abdul Rahim. Nomura Asset Management KL is one of the first foreign financial institutions to obtain a fund manager licence from Malaysia’s securities commission.