Lehman Brothers has $15bn of European real estate to sell

PricewaterhouseCoopers, the administrators to Lehman Brothers in the UK, has discovered more than 200 subsidiaries and joint ventures across the region. Investors are lodging their expressions of interest.

Lehman Brothers was holding around $15 billion of European real estate in more than 200 real estate subsidiaries and joint ventures when it went bankrupt, according to the firm’s UK administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The administrator said today it had made “considerable progress” identifying what assets are under control of the real estate arm of the failed investment bank and was taking steps to sell the investments off.

Since being drafted in on Monday, PWC has discovered $15 billion of investments mainly in the UK, but also in Sweden, France, Finland, Spain and Croatia as well as several other European countries.

In a statement, the accountancy firm said: “The total underlying asset value, before allowing for funding structures, is considered to be in the region of $15 billion. In addition, there are non-performing loan and mortgage portfolios, together with a limited number of private equity interests and shareholdings in listed businesses.”

Since Lehman went into meltdown, real estate investors have been lodging their interest with PWC. The firm said it was “gathering all expressions of interest” so that it could speak with interested parties when ready.