Lehman Europe creditors may be repaid in full

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Creditors of the European arm of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers, which collapsed in September 2008, may be repaid in full, administrators said on Monday.

The settlement of rival claims over assets has freed up billion of dollars that can now be distributed to former clients of the bank's European arm, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said in its ninth progress report to creditors.

"To be able to advise ordinary unsecured creditors that we now have a reasonable chance of eventually repaying their claims in full, marks a significant milestone," said Tony Lomas, lead administrator and partner at PwC.

"There is still a lot to do before finalizing the wind-down but we do expect to pay a second, significant dividend to creditors in the near future, taking us another step towards this new target."

Some 13.6 billion pounds worth of assets, including securities and cash, have been returned to former clients of the European unit of Lehman Brothers since the start of the wind down.

PwC said one recent settlement would free up $9.1 billion of assets, which could be returned to creditors later this year.

In November 2012, a first interim dividend of 25.2 percent was paid to unsecured creditors, usually one of the last to be paid in any wind down.

(Reporting by Carmel Crimmins; Editing by Maureen Bavdek)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lehman-europe-creditors-may-repaid-full-230830998--sector.html

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