A group of Australian towns, charities and churches that purchased risky U.S. mortgage-backed securities sold by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s Australian unit settled its class-action lawsuit against the failed investment bank, paving the way for the creditors to recover $300 million Australian dollars (U.S. $273 million) in the coming year, Dow Jones Newswires reported yesterday. PBB Advisory, the liquidators of Lehman Brothers Australia Ltd., said yesterday that creditors of dozens of Australian councils, churches and charities that invested in collateralized-debt obligations with Lehman Brothers Australia could expect to begin receiving checks early next year. The proposed A$300 million distribution would come on top of an earlier A$250 million paid out directly to Australian councils and charities from their Lehman-originated investments.
