US securities firm pays out $222.5m

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc, the fifth-biggest US securities firm, agreed to pay $222.5 million to resolve a suit filed by investors over the bank’s role as underwriter for Enron Corp, the bankrupt energy trader, people familiar with the settlement said.

Lehman, sued over its underwriting of Enron debt offerings stretching back to 1998, won’t admit wrongdoing under the settlement, the people said. Lehman’s board and the University of California Board of Regents, the lead shareholder in the case, must approve the accord, which was negotiated by its lawyers.