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Lehman in a huddle on offloading Japan assets
Bill Condie19.09.08
Failed Wall Street bank Lehman Brothers is in talks to sell some Japan assets to Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, insiders in Tokyo say.
It also hopes to offload assets in the country, including equity and property holdings, to Barclays and Mitsubishi UFJ.
Lehman's main firms in Japan filed for bankruptcy the day after the US bank hit the wall. It was Japan's biggest-ever corporate collapse, with 4.7 trillion yen (£24.15 billion) of liabilities.
Barclays agreed this week to buy Lehman's North American investment banking unit for
$1.75 billion (£960.6 million) while private-equity firms Bain Capital and Hellman & Friedman are understood to be negotiating together to buy the firm's investment-management arm.
Sumitomo Mitsui may also seek to buy businesses from Lehman elsewhere in Asia.
Talks are racing against the clock as a flood of Lehman employees leave for other jobs.
Recruitment firms are calling Lehman workers in Japan, trying to lure entire teams or departments.
Lehman's Japan businesses are meeting creditors in Tokyo today to discuss a revitalisation plan.
Lehman reported a 12.4 billion yen profit in Japan for the year to March, up from 1.4 billion yen a year earlier.
