Big day approaches for Lehman Brothers

The big day for Lehman Brothers is Sept. 18, the day it will announce a big third-quarter loss and most likely some capital raising plans. The conference call is going to be a doozy. Everything is at stake. There needs to be a Plan A, a Plan B and more plans down the alphabet. It would be best to announce a major deal. That may not happen. It's not clear at all that potential Korean investors will agree to anything. Indeed, the talks appear to be dead. (Ditto the private equity firms that took a look at some troubled assets.) Plan B may be to announce some sort of other capital event. Breakingviews reports that Lehman is indeed planning to spin off its real estate assets into a bad company, Spinco, leaving a good company, Cleanco. How they will be capitalized is still a mystery. Mr. Market is very worried.

For more:
- here's the Breakingviews article

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