Barclays in talks to acquire Lehman's securities business

16 September 2008

After having walked away from buying out of the entire Lehman Brothers over the weekend, the UK's third largest bank, Barclays Plc, yesterday said it was in negotiaions to acquire "certain assets" of the US firm.

Acording to reports, Barclays is interested in buying out Lehman's core broker-dealer business in the US that could lead to the transfer of 10,000 Lehman staff to Barclays, which is keen to take over market share from US firms weakened by the credit crunch, to get into the top league of US securities firms.

In a statement in response to media reports, the UK bank said, "Barclays confirms that it is discussing with Lehman Brothers for the possible acquisition of certain Lehman Brothers' assets on terms that would be attractive to Barclays shareholders."

It qualified its intention by adding, "There can be no assurance that the discussions will result in an agreement."

The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people involved in the talks, that Archibald Cox Jr, chairman, Barclays Americas, was leading the negotiations and an agreement was expected today.

The report also said that the remaining portions of Lehman like mortgage securities, would be left for creditors to liquidate.