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New York/Frankfurt: Private equity firms Bain Capital LLC and Hellman & Friedman LLC were closer to a deal on Sunday night to buy Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc's prized Neuberger Berman unit, two sources familiar with the situation said.
A deal has not been fin-alised yet and could take still longer, the sources said. It was unclear what the price for the asset would be. Lehman said in a statement earlier in Sep-tember it was in advanced discussions with a number of bidders to sell the investment management division (IMD), which includes the crown jewel, Neuberger Berman.
An internal memo at that time said the investment bank hoped to announce a deal for the division "within a very short period of time".
The bank's holding company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this month after trying to finance too many risky assets with too little capital.
Citing people familiar with the situation, The Wall Street Journal yesterday said a deal has been held up by issues including contract negotiations with Neuberger's money managers as well as the details of a purchase of some of Lehman's private-equity businesses.
Officials fired
Meanwhile, German public bank KfW said yesterday it had fired two directors who were suspended after the bank transferred more than 300 million euros (Dh1.6 billion) to Lehman Brothers after it filed for bankruptcy.
The transfer, which made KfW a laughing stock in financial circles, was made on September 15 as part of a liquidity exchange operation agreed before the US investment bank went under.
Economy Minister Michael Glos and Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck said in a joint statement yesterday that the decision to fire the two managers would take effect immediately.
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