Lehman Still Doing Deals in a Second Life on Wall Street
January 11th, 2012Via: New York Times:
Things that refuse to die include Dracula, fungus, Jason from the “Friday the 13th” movies, zombies — and Lehman Brothers.
You would probably like to forget Lehman in the wake of its collapse in 2008, an event that set off a near Armageddon in the financial world. Lehman filed for bankruptcy and soon afterward its investment banking arm was sold to Barclays of Britain for $250 million. That same week, Bank of America bought Merrill Lynch and most likely overpaid by tens of billions.
Like all good horror villains, Lehman still exists, sort of. The Lehman Brothers estate is in its fourth year of administration in Federal Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. It’s the largest bankruptcy in history, involving the liquidation of $65 billion in assets. As of October, the estate had made substantial progress settling almost $100 billion in claims.
Yet Lehman still has about $40 billion in assets to unwind. Not only is Lehman the largest bankruptcy in history, it is possibly the most complex, with multiple proceedings, including bankruptcies in Britain, the Cayman Islands and Hong Kong. The Lehman estate has paid well over $1 billion in fees and expenses.
The Lehman estate is even scheduled to exit bankruptcy soon, but don’t think this will end the story. Lehman is looking to get bigger.
