By Karen Pierog

CHICAGO, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Just over a year since Lehman Brothers' municipal bond operation morphed into Barclays Capital, the new name in the muni market has proven to be a contender.

Barclays won its first competitive deal and priced its first negotiated issue in the muni market on Oct. 28, 2008, following its takeover of Lehman's muni business at the end of September 2008.

This October, Barclays ranked fourth among muni senior managers for the month, with nearly $4.7 billion of debt in 22 issues that included a $3.4 billion California economic recovery bond refunding, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Barclays Capital, the investment banking unit of British bank Barclays Plc (BARC.L: Quote, Profile, Research), has closely matched the performance of Lehman, which dissolved in a bankruptcy filing last year. In the first nine months of 2009, Barclays ranked sixth among senior managers, with $18.2 billion of bonds in 123 deals.

In the same period in 2008, Lehman also ranked sixth, with $22.9 billion of bonds in 188 deals, Thomson Reuters showed.

"We have the same bankers and the same infrastructure," said Jerry Rizzieri, Barclays' head of municipal finance, adding that by being part of a bank, Barclays has also been able to also offer liquidity facilities such as standby purchase agreements and letters of credit.

Many in the $2.7 trillion muni market had fretted that Lehman's demise would hurt liquidity, particularly after Bear, Stearns & Co was folded into JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and UBS Securities dissolved most of its municipal operations last year. Both companies were big underwriters and traders of tax-exempt debt.

Frank Hoadley, Wisconsin's capital finance director, called Barclays a "potent force on the Street."