Barclays, the third-biggest British bank, said yesterday it was in discussions with Lehman Brothers about buying certain assets of the stricken US investment bank.
“Barclays confirms that it is discussing with Lehman Brothers the possible acquisition of certain Lehman Brothers assets on terms that would be attractive to Barclays shareholders,” the British bank said in an official statement.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday that Lehman was negotiating a plan to sell large portions of its assets to Barclays.
PHOTO: AP
Barclays Americas chairman Archibald Cox Jr was leading the talks, and it was hoped that an agreement could be reached by yesterday, the WSJ report said, citing a “person involved in the talks.”
The business daily said that a deal for Lehman’s broker-dealer business would see at least 10,000 staff at the US bank transfer to Barclays. Lehman’s troubled assets, such as mortgage securities, would be left behind for creditors to liquidate as they saw fit, the WSJ said.
Barclays had at the weekend walked away from a merger deal with Lehman, saying such a tie-up would not have been in the best interests of Barclays’ shareholders.
Lehman went bankrupt on Monday, with the company listing in its bankruptcy filing in US federal court in New York US$639 billion in assets and US$613 billion in debt.
Barclays added in its statement yesterday: “There can be no assurance that the discussions [with Lehman] will result in an agreement. A further announcement will be made in due course.”
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