Nomura to grab Lehman Europe

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And an almighty fight for the best talent is also set to break out as Barclays' investment banking arm Barclays Capital is tonight understood to have launched an aggressive campaign to poach Lehman's top rainmakers.

The Japanese banking giant looks most likely to pick up Lehman's European businesses today having already agreed to buy Lehman's Asian broking and investment banking arms for around £125million.

Barclays had been seen as the likely bidder for Lehman Europe, having already bagged the bankrupt firm's New York investment banking business for £1billion and, controversially, guaranteeing £1.4billion in bonuses to the bankers it has taken on.

However, it emerged that in London, Barclays' offer to the administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers only covered Lehman's equities business.

It has emerged that Nomura is interested in the equities and corporate finance and investment banking arms and as a result the administrators, after a weekend of talks with potential acquirers, have narrowed the short list of buyers to one.

Dan Schwarzmann of PwC said: "We have now focused on one party as they are interested in acquiring a wider team, which should result in a better deal for staff and creditors.

"Given the complexity of Lehman Brothers these negotiations are difficult. But I'm hoping to give certainty to all involved in the short term."

Lehman employed more than 4000 people in its Canary Wharf offices.

Of these, 800 are in corporate finance while any deal on the equities arm could cover from 800 to 1500 people. In Asia, Lehman employed 3000 people.

The sale of the London-based asset management business could take slightly longer, said Schwarzmann.

Nomura, based close to St Paul's on Carey Lane, is a much slimmer operation to when it was one of the biggest players on the London stage in the 1990s, spawning such high profile deal-doers as Guy Hands, now of Terra Firma, and Giles Thorley who runs Punch Taverns.