Lehman in talks with KDB to raise billions

By Rhee So-eui and Lee Chang-ho

SEOUL (Reuters) - Lehman Brothers Holdings LEH.N has intensified talks with Korea Development Bank (KDB) to raise as much as $6 billion (3.3 billion pounds) in a share sale that could be concluded this week, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

South Korea's KDB could buy up to 25 percent of the struggling U.S. investment bank, the paper said, without specifying sources. A spokesman for state-run KDB declined to comment.

A senior source at the Financial Services Commission (FSC), told Reuters South Korean authorities would not oppose or support any deal until price details were known.

That appeared to mark a shift by the regulator, which previously said KDB should let local private banks take the lead in any international acquisitions, dashing hopes for a direct deal with Lehman.

The source said the FSC had not been officially informed of new talks between Lehman and KDB. He said, however, that any deal was unlikely to be concluded within a week.

But FSC spokesman Yoo Hoon later said the regulator remained uneasy about the state-run bank leading any deal with Lehman.

"We have expressed our concern over KDB being the major player in a deal ... we haven't changed our view," he said.

Lehman, which has more than $60 billion of mortgage and mortgage security exposure, is under pressure to raise capital ahead of its results announcement this month. It may post a loss in the third quarter on likely pre-tax writedowns of $3.5 billion, a Morgan Stanley analyst said last week.