Lehman and Barclays pact gets revised

Fri Sep 19, 2008 11:56pm BST
 
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By Emily Chasan

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The terms of Barclays' planned acquisition of Lehman Brothers main North American businesses have been revised, pending court approval, amid declines in the securities market, attorneys for Lehman said on Friday.

Barclays had agreed to buy Lehman's North American investment banking and capital markets businesses for about $1.75 billion (955 million pounds) after Lehman filed for the largest bankruptcy in history. Most of that original price was for Lehman's New York headquarters and two data centres.

In the revised deal, which must be approved by the bankruptcy court, Barclays would absorb about $47.4 billion in securities and assume $45.5 billion in trading liabilities, attorneys said. The original deal called for $72 billion in securities and $68 billion in trading liabilities.

The appraised value of Lehman's real estate, which includes the Manhattan headquarters and two data centres, had been appraised at a lower-than-expected rate, the lawyers said.

The original value of the real estate was pegged at about $1 billion, but the new price was expected to be lower by about $100 million to $200 million, the lawyers said. More negotiations were expected to be held with Barclays on the real estate value, they added.

Barclays will no longer purchase Lehman's Eagle Energy unit. It will acquire entities known as Lehman Brothers Canada, Lehman Brothers Sudamerica, Lehman Brothers Uruguay and its Private Investment Management business for high net-worth individuals.

Lehman, however, will retain $20 billion of securities assets in Lehman Brothers Inc that are not being transferred to Barclays, they said.

Also, $700 million in cash no longer will be transferred to Barclays, the lawyers said.  Continued...

 
A share trader is pictured behind a mock one dollar bill and a mock 500 Euro note symbolizing a consumer credit note, at the German stock exchange in Frankfurt, December 18, 2008. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach
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