Lehman - What's going on here?

Report: KDB seeking 25 percent of Lehman Brothers

SEOUL, South Korea - State-owned Korea Development Bank has made a proposal to acquire 25 percent of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers for as much as 6 trillion won (US$5.3 billion), a newspaper reported Wednesday.

Why would foreign banks be vying to shore up our failing financial institutions?

Analysts project that Lehman, considered to be the most vulnerable to the credit crisis, could post losses of up to US$4 billion when it reports third-quarter results in mid-September. It is expected that the investment bank will also announce a deal to raise fresh capital to help offset the losses.

Lehman - considered to be the most vulnerable to the credit crisis - yikes!

Curiously, on top of their credit problems, this news also came out yesterday. The Ospraie Fund has failed. Back in April it was reported that Lehman bought a 20% stake in this fund.

Lehman Brothers gets 20% of Ospraie, hedge-fund company

Mr. Anderson also said that Lehman will further Ospraie’s expansion "with selected marketing, operations, technology and product development services."

Mr. Anderson is an experienced commodities trader who has won a reputation for expertise in this area that is regarded as very promising on surging demand from China and India, and the disastrous returns in some of the equity sectors.

Oh well, bad call Mr. Anderson. The fund lost so much money this year it has now closed and returned what's left to investors.

But the big picture is, how much of our Banking system is headed into the hand of foreign banks and what does this ultimately mean for the US?

reply to post by Relentless

Why would foreign banks be vying to shore up our failing financial institutions?

Because the US Gov would sooner make the Tax Payer pay for it's debts then let that company fail.

Essentially it's a fire sale of the US Economy with the assurance that the Gov won't allow the companies to fail.

Originally posted by Rockpuck
Essentially it's a fire sale of the US Economy with the assurance that the Gov won't allow the companies to fail.

Do you happen to know if the government will be liquidating any national park land?

I'd love a 40 acre plot with a view somewhere in Yellowstone park.

[edit on 3-9-2008 by In nothing we trust]

The Lehman rumors are truly out of hand. It's obvious that there is blatant manipulation via the rumors that come out almost daily about them. Richard (The Great Short Hunter) Fuld has tried blaming anything but the piss poor management practices of his company for its current troubles. The rumors appear to be blatant attempts at manipulating the stock of this company. It is highly hypocritical of whatever powers that be when they essentially stop people from shorting almost the entire financial sector for over a month and show absolutely no interest in enforcing the other end of the pendulum w/ regards to price manipulationwhen blatantly false rumors about an outside investor coming in and saving this company almost daily.

reply to post by jefwane


Yep, this became irrefutable by close of business yesterday. The only thing that seems to be true on the news side is that this bank is in trouble, and the news is being used to manipulate - you, the markets, etc.

Well, here is what is going on with Lehman.

From Washington Post

The Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve are engineering a sale of Lehman Brothers through a consortium of private firms. The details are not finalized, but sources familiar with the matter say the purchase is expected to be completed and announced this weekend before Asian markets open Monday morning.

Well, looks like Ben and Hank gonna reach in your pocket again to shore up something that should be left to fail.