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LEHJQ are LEHMAN PREFERRED SHARES
Lehman: Barclays Reaped $8.2 Billion Windfall
Article By PATRICK FITZGERALD
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. said Barclays PLC earned a "windfall" of at least $8.2 billion when it bought Lehman's broker-dealer business in 2008.
Lehman said in a court filing Tuesday that Barclays received $8.2 billion in excess Lehman assets as a result of deliberate understatement of its assets.
A representative for Barclays wasn't immediately available to comment.
The windfall included a $5 billion undisclosed discount off the book value of securities transferred to Barclays and $2.7 billion added to the deal at Barclays' demand during the sale hearing conducted at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan.
Under the agreement, Barclays paid $1.54 billion for Lehman's North American broker-dealer business and agreed to assume up to $4.2 billion in liabilities, according to Lehman.
But Lehman said in court papers that evidence exists that undisclosed "self-interested" Lehman executives hid the discount for Barclays, inflated Lehman's liabilities and made undisclosed changes to the deal in a bid to elevate their employment prospects at Barclay's over Lehman's interest.
Lehman wants Judge James Peck, who signed off on the sale just days after Lehman collapsed, to modify the sale order forcing Barclays to return the excess value of the assets to Lehman's bankruptcy estate.
A hearing on that request is scheduled for Oct. 15.
Lehman filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sept. 15, 2008, in the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. The restructuring firm helping to wind down Lehman's business said in July that Lehman's U.S. units are sitting on more than $12 billion, up from about $3 billion when it collapsed last September.
