Four years after filing the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history amid soured real estate bets, Lehman is still in the property business, wagering it can recover about $12.9 billion from mortgages and assets around the globe, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Its $3 billion purchase this year of the remaining 53 percent of apartment owner Archstone Inc. made it the biggest buyer of U.S. commercial property by value in the last 12 months, according to research firm Real Capital Analytics Inc. Lehman has invested $5 billion in real estate since its demise, acquiring loans and buying out joint venture partners. Lehman aims to raise $53 billion through 2016, to pay creditors an average of 18 cents on the dollar on about $300 billion of claims. The company made its first payment of $22.5 billion in April, about 53 percent more than it previously estimated was possible, after exiting court protection.
