Japanese bank top bidder to buy Lehmans' European arm

Japanese bank Nomura is today understood to have been chosen as preferred bidder to buy Lehman Brothers' European arm in a deal that could save at least 1,000 London jobs.

PricewaterhouseCoopers, which was appointed administrator to Lehmans' European operations last week, confirmed it was in talks with one party interested in acquiring “a wider team”, which could help safeguard many of the 3,000 staff employed at the investment and private equity businesses in the UK and Europe.

It is thought that Nomura beat Barclays to the final-round stage of talks amid reports that it has also won the bidding battle for Lehmans' Asian operations today.

But PwC stressed negotiations were difficult, given the complexity of Lehman Brothers, which dramatically collapsed last Monday.

PwC is expected to make a firmer announcement on the sale of the operations within the next day or two.

Dan Schwarzmann, joint administrator and partner at PwC, said: ``We have now focused on one party as they are interested in acquiring a wider team, which should result in a better deal for staff and creditors of these businesses.''

Around 5,000 jobs in London faced the axe after the bank filed for bankruptcy protection last week after talks failed to sell the entire business.

Barclays was one of those that pulled out of negotiations and had been seen as a front-runner to buy embattled Lehman, which fell into difficulty amid the credit crisis.

It had already bought Lehman's North American investment banking and capital markets businesses in a deal completed today.