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Lehman Brothers
Richard Fuld's Lehman Brothers collapsed in 2008 in the largest US bankruptcy, leaving a private equity fund-of-funds platform in court-ordered...
Lehman Brothers
Lehman Brothers is a financial services company founded in 1850 in Tarrytown, New York. It provides investment banking, equity and fixed-income sales, and derivatives trading services. The company serves the financial service sector and offers financial services, investment management, and private banking solutions.
General information
Firm type
Private Equity
Year founded
1850
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
New York
Corporate office
New York, NY, United States
Principals
Richard S. Fuld Jr.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who manages the residual Lehman Brothers private equity portfolio?
Post-bankruptcy, the portfolio is managed by the Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. estate under court supervision. Restructuring professionals from Alvarez & Marsal have served as key advisors to the estate in unwinding alternative-asset commitments and distributing proceeds to creditors.
Is the Lehman Brothers private equity platform still making new commitments?
No. The platform has not made a new fund commitment since the September 2008 bankruptcy filing. It has been in pure wind-down mode: managing existing commitments, funding capital calls, and distributing realized proceeds to the bankruptcy estate.
What type of private equity strategies did the fund-of-funds invest in?
The platform focused on buyout funds — both large-cap and middle-market — primarily in North America and Europe. It acted as a limited partner in established vehicles, including funds managed by KKR, Blackstone, and Apollo, with no direct co-investment or operating-company strategy.
How did the 2008 bankruptcy affect Lehman Brothers' limited-partner obligations?
The estate assumed or rejected LP commitments under bankruptcy court oversight. Where commitments were maintained, capital calls were funded from estate reserves to preserve asset value. Many commitments were sold in secondary-market transactions to specialist purchasers, including portfolios acquired by Lexington Partners and Coller Capital.
Does any part of the original Lehman Brothers alternative-investment business survive today?
Certain Lehman Brothers asset-management affiliates, including Neuberger Berman, were separated before or during the bankruptcy and continue to operate independently. Neuberger Berman's private equity business functions under its own brand with no connection to the Lehman estate.
What was the scale of the private equity portfolio at bankruptcy?
Exact private equity commitment figures were subsumed within Lehman's $639 billion total asset base at the time of the Chapter 11 filing. The fund-of-funds portfolio included interests across multiple vintage years, and the estate has sold or wound down those positions over the 16-year administration period ending in 2024.
Are there any public filings that detail the residual private equity holdings?
The bankruptcy estate filed regular operating reports with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. These dockets include schedules of remaining assets and distributions. The estate's final report, filed in connection with the March 2024 final distribution, provides the terminal accounting.
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