News, analysis and personal reflections on the markets & the financial sector

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Barclays received profit from Lehman Brothers assets

Barclays Capital received an $8.2 billion windfall profit when it took control of excess Lehman Brothers assets a year ago, it has emerged.

Court papers submitted on Tuesday by Lehman Brothers Holdings argue that Barclays gained assets it was not supposed to receive during the deal, due to the fact that "critical changes" to the agreement were made between the sale order being signed and the transaction being concluded.

Lehman executives agreed to give Barclays a $5 billion discount on the book value of the securities that the bank was acquiring, the document said, with the rest of the money being handed over at a later date at Barclays's request

"The deal was actually structured to give Barclays an immediate and enormous profit windfall," Lehman stated.

Yesterday (September 15th) marked the anniversary of Lehman Brothers filing for bankruptcy, a move that contributed greatly to the global economic downturn.

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