Lehman forced to offload risky assets at a loss

LEHMAN BROTHERS is expected to follow in Merrill Lynch’s footsteps and sell a lot of risky assets at a loss.

But shedding the assets may create another headache for the firm — the need to raise large amounts of new capital, including common equity.

Any capital raise would be painful for Lehman and its shareholders, given that the company just raised $6 billion in June and trades at a significant discount to its book value, or the net accounting value of its assets.