Barclays beats Lehman in USD 11 bn

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc's hurried sale of much of its operations to Barclays Plc at the height of the financial crisis was fair, and its bankruptcy estate is not entitled to recover USD 11 billion windfall, a federal judge ruled.

The long-awaited ruling by US Bankruptcy Judge James Peck followed a trial in which Lehman argued that Barclays got a sweetheart deal in acquiring its US investment banking and brokerage operations. The sale took place just a few days after Lehman went bankrupt on September 15, 2008. Lehman's Chapter 11 filing was a major trigger of the global financial crisis. "The court was not deceived in a manner that should now be permitted to upset the integrity of the sale order," Peck wrote in a 103-page opinion. "The sale process may have been imperfect, but it was still adequate under the exceptional circumstances of Lehman Week." Lehman spokeswoman Kimberly Macleod declined immediate comment, saying the company was still reviewing the decision, made public late Tuesday. Barclays spokesman Michael O'Looney declined immediate comment.