Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (LEH) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Monday in New York, listing debts of $613 billion and naming as unsecured creditors owed hundreds of millions of dollars banks from Tokyo, Hong Kong, New York, Singapore and Taipei, among others.
Topping the list of Lehman's unsecured debts is approximately $138 billion in senior bond debt, followed by another $17 billion in subordinated and junior bond debt, according to documents filed at 1:45 am ET in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.
The bankruptcy filing by the Wall Street firm followed a failed effort to find a buyer or persuade the U.S government to bail it out of massive real-estate- related losses. The bankruptcy petition said Lehman's assets are worth $639 billion.
Citibank and the Bank of New York are trustees for the huge load of bond debt that tops Lehman's list of unsecured liabilities, court documents say.
AOZORA of Tokyo is listed as the largest bank lender, with a loan of $463 million. Next is Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd. of Tokyo, with a $289 million loan.
Additionally, Lehman listed as unsecured debts a $275 million bank loan from Citibank, a $250 million bank loan from BNP Paribas, a $231 million bank loan from Japan's Shinsei Bank Ltd., a $185 million bank loan from UFJ Bank Limited of Japan, a $177 million bank loan from Sumitomo Mitsubishi Banking Corp. of Tokyo and a series of other sizable bank loans.
Mizuho Corporate Bank, Shinkin Central Bank, and Chuo Mitsui Trust & Banking, all of Japan, the Bank of Nova Scotia's Singapore branch, Lloyds Bank in New York, Hua Nan Commercial Bank of Taipei and Bank of China, New York Branch, are all on the list of unsecured creditors owed more than $50 million by Lehman.
The Wall Street firm said none of the broker-dealer subsidiaries or other subsidiaries of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. will be included in the Chapter 11 filing and all of the broker-dealers will continue to operate. Customers of Lehman Brothers, including customers of its wholly owned subsidiary, Neuberger Berman Holdings LLC, may continue to trade or take other actions with respect to their accounts, Lehman said.
The Lehman board authorized the filing of the Chapter 11 petition in order to protect its assets and maximize value, the firm said.
The New York law firm of Weil Gotshal & Manges is representing Lehman Brothers. The case has not yet been assigned to a judge.
