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.

No Laughing Matter

“Our board is a joke,” says one Lehman executive who asks not to be named.
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As recently as August, Fuld may have had a chance to sell a 25 percent stake in Lehman for $4 billion to $6 billion to state-run Korea Development Bank, but by some accounts he balked, saying the offer was too low, the Wall Street Journal has reported.
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"All good things come to an end"

Herbert Lehman (1878-1963)
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Where Was Lehman's Board?
Business Week

Lehman CEO Fuld's hubris contributed to meltdown
Reuters

Bove: WaMu a Bigger Problem Than Lehman For Regulators

Dick Bove's latest comments indicate he is standing by Lehman Brothers (LEH-NYSE), but is not quite as constructive on Washington Mutual (WM-NYSE).

Shame on me for thinking Dick Fuld would actually do something that made sense; this conflagration has claimed pretty much everyone on the SellSide as well, but Bove has essentially stuck to his guns throughout the drama...

Bove made a pit stop at Fox Business to get his last licks in on Lehman and WaMu:

On if a deal will happen for Lehman:

“I think that there will be a deal and I think that the Treasury’s very interested in seeing that a deal occurs because if there is no deal and if Lehman has to come back to the market on Monday and Tuesday…then Lehman will be in deep trouble and the Treasury will have to step in.”

On whether their will be a joint bid for Lehman or one bank stepping in:

“I actually think that one big bank will do it and I do believe that you change the whole economics of running Lehman if a big bank acquires it.”

Lehman Brothers: So Popular Nobody Wants It

My apologies to Yogi Berra, the title is this post is clearly the work of a rank amateur.

But the soap opera with Lehman Brothers (LEH-NYSE), which the Financial Times accurately described earlier today as "dodgy" has taken a few twists and turns, and every Gossip Girl on the Street is dishing the news:

Japan’s biggest megabank, Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ is poised to enter the bidding for a substantial stake in Lehman Brothers, and may even seek control of the ailing Wall Street titan, according to banking industry sources in Tokyo.

Senior sources close to the Japanese group say that the possible acquisition is being treated as a “once in a lifetime” opportunity but that the notoriously conservative bank will proceed with extreme caution. Times of London

Of course, nothing really matters until Meredith Whitney opens her mouth. But Dick Bove pre-empted her today, and managed to fit in another media appearance in between media appearances:

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