Lehman

For those that remember the surreal weekend before Lehman filed chapter 11, Barclays was considered an eleventh hour white knight who would swoop in and buy the bank. These rumors were squashed after Barclays pussied out, saying it would not be able to afford Lehman without the Queen's, the Fed's and Santa Claus' blessings... Nonetheless, the bank did its diligence, and 4 days after Lehman filed, Barc used the smoke and mirrors of bankruptcy court to snatch the U.S. broker dealer for metaphorically pennies on the dollar, and literally $1.75 billion.

Here is something for all those who say we are permadoom sayers... Fresh from gimme credit, and we tend to agree. A full blown implosion of Citi would be the Mutual Assured Destruction to everyone with exposure to Citi, which is... well... everyone, whether it is by 1 or 6 degrees of separation. Betting on Citi's demise is ironically just like buying US Sovereign CDS: you have a high likelihood of being right, but if you are, the money you make (assuming someone honors the contract you are collecting under) will be worth just the paper it is written on.

From GimmeCredit:

The bad news for creditors of bankrupt Lehman Bros just keep coming.

Following in the footsteps of previous insider firesales (Neuberger, R3, merchant-banking) within the bankrupt estate, Lehman's former Venture Capital arm is the most recent asset to be sold to yet another Lehman insider, this time Thomas Banahan, ex-head of global venture c

As we have pointed out before (here and here), the free-for-all that is the Lehman bankruptcy case is a gold mine for a whole lot of scavengers.

As we have pointed out before (here and here), the free-for-all that is the Lehman bankruptcy case is a gold mine for a whole lot of scavengers.

A report released earlier by Goldman thinkers Krag Gregory and John Marshall discussing volatility and options strategy, is recommending loading up the boat on S&P puts. The GS "portfolio strategy" team (we assume this is not the guys on the prop side who usually execute the opposite of whatever the sellside guys preach) expects the market to retest the 750 low in Q1, pretty much what Lehman said over the weekend.

The stress of the "biggest bankruptcy in history" and all those fee applications must really be getting to him.

Restructuring consultancy firm Alvarez & Marsal has decided to take the easy way out, and simply give creditors in the Lehman's bankruptcy equity instead of trying to maximize cash recoveries. The bulk of Lehman's residual value (or lack thereof) is contained in its hard to value real estate and private equity assets.

Anton Valukas, a Jenner and Block lawyer who specializes in criminal law and business litigation, was appointed the role of examiner in Lehman's bankruptcy case.

A notice sent out yesterday to all known and unknown lawyers involved in the "biggest bankruptcy of all time" can be found here.

Lawyers A Thru C, for full list click above

A notice sent out yesterday to all known and unknown lawyers involved in the "biggest bankruptcy of all time" can be found here.

Lawyers A Thru C, for full list click above