Lehman sees 750 Europe jobs axed

Posted by admin on 30 September, 2008 under Business news | Read the First Comment

The administrators of Lehman Brothers’ European division have cut 750 jobs at the firm with immediate effect.

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, said the move came “despite exhausting all avenues” to save the posts.

The vast majority of the cuts will be made in London, where the firm employed about 5,000 people.

Lehman Brothers, the fourth-largest investment bank in the US, filed for bankruptcy as it was hit by the credit crunch and could not be rescued.

The jobs will go from the firm’s European fixed income and personal investment management units, after a buyer could not be found.

‘Maximising value’

“It is extremely disappointing that despite exhausting all avenues these jobs could not be saved,” said PwC partner Tony Lomas.

“We continue to be focussed on maximising the value of recoveries for creditors, whilst minimising the impact on other stakeholders as much as possible.”

Shortly after the collapse, Barclays bought Lehman’s US investment banking unit for £250m.

And last week Japanese bank Nomura said it was buying some of Lehman’s European and Middle Eastern operations for an undisclosed sum.

Under the deal announced last week, Nomura will acquire the equities and investment banking businesses from the US bank which filed for bankruptcy protection in mid September.

The Japanese bank said it expected to save the jobs of a “significant proportion” of the 2,500 Lehman staff in those businesses.

The Nomura deal does not include any of Lehman’s trading assets or liabilities, Nomura said.

It is also going to acquire Lehman’s assets in Asia.

News reported by The BBC