Defunct investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. said it has agreed to sell $4.22 billion of its general unsecured claims against its brokerage unit Lehman Brothers Inc. for about $1.88 billion, or 45 percent of face value, the Wall Street Journal's Bankruptcy Beat blog reported yesterday. Earlier this month, Lehman said that it had hired Lazard Inc. as an adviser to explore the monetization of its general unsecured claims against the brokerage unit. The latest agreement comes after a Dutch auction and is contingent on a February settlement agreement between Lehman and James W. Giddens, trustee for the Securities Investor Protection Act liquidation of Lehman Brothers Inc., being effective.
In related news, the law firm of the trustee liquidating the Lehman Brothers Inc. brokerage asked a judge to approve fees and expenses of $37.5 million for the period from July 1 through February 28, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. A bankruptcy judge previously approved $212.7 million in fees and expenses for Giddens and the law firm of Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP for the four-and-a-half years since September 2008, according to a court filing. Click here for the full article.