Time For Diamond To Shine

Lehman's last minute hookup with Barclays in certainly a bit of good news, although chances are some of the employees that told their bosses how they really felt on the way out the door might be regretting their actions as everyone jockey for positions with their new English taskmasters. And the people who chatted with the press on the way out the door might as well look for equity jobs in Dallas.

But Lehman employees had better not kid themselves over their new status in the world. Barclays merely needed some arm candy to stick in their fancy new building:

Barclays Plc, the U.K.'s third- biggest bank, will acquire the North American investment-banking business of bankrupt Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. for $1.75 billion, two days after abandoning plans to buy the entire firm.

The London-based bank is paying $250 million in cash for the Lehman businesses and $1.5 billion for the securities firm's New York headquarters and two data centers, it said in a statement on its Web site today. The operations employ about 10,000 people, almost two-fifths of Lehman's total.....The purchase includes the equities and fixed-income sales, trading and research businesses, commodities and foreign exchange, merger advisory and prime brokerage units, Barclays said. Bloomberg

Of course, Barclay's Bob Diamond will have the pick of the litter and might not have to keep each and every employee. My Lehman institutional equity coverage from Lehman many years ago was rumored to be Dick Fuld's nephew; he did not know a stock from a bond and clearly got the job because of his blood lines. But that dog could not hunt, and ultimately left me wanting, much like Dick Fuld did, in the end.

His actions to fire subordinates were decisive, but leaving the bat on his shoulder while the last few pitches were fired in is pretty pathetic.

But now it in Bob Diamond’s chance to do a little empire building. Street smart Lehman employees would be wise to check out his background and speculate on his motivations.  Hopefully he has learned from his mistakes, although they have been unforgivable at times:

HIs nickname at CS First Boston, although he denies any knowledge of it, was “The Coach”, and he looked set for the big job-that of CSFB boss Allen Wheat. Then a messy revolt by bond traders in March forced his departure as he was blamed for not managing the traders bonus expectations well. Euromoney

Diamond is big on speeches, but I doubt he will be exhorting them to win one for the Gipper Fuld. 

But Diamond is finally in the big leagues, and we will soon find out if Lehman/Barclays rallies around their new man.

Cheers, Coach.

Barclays to Buy Lehman U.S. Units for $1.75 Billion
Bloomberg

Update-Great Profile on Diamond in the FT
Man in the News: Bob Diamond
FT
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