Lehman's European subsidiaries after 2008

analysisThe GLEIF record for LEI 724500T0F0L76GZEZQ58 gives the legal name Lehman Brothers Treasury Co. B.V. in liquidatie, Dutch trade register number 33267322, creation on March 8, 1995 and an Amsterdam address, with a reporting exception for parent information. According to LBT's 2023 report, the Amsterdam District Court declared it bankrupt on October 8, 2008, appointing Rutger Schimmelpenninck and, from October 13, 2009, Frédéric Verhoeven as trustees. LBT offered a composition plan in December 2012, confirmed by the court on March 22, 2013; when it took effect on April 3, 2013 LBT emerged from bankruptcy and went into voluntary liquidation with the former trustees as liquidators. ^{1 2}

analysisAll LBT shares were transferred on February 28, 2012 to Stichting Lehman Brothers Treasury Co., which has since been its sole shareholder and supervises the composition plan. From January 1, 2024 the liquidators are Verhoeven and Karien van Boekel, while Schimmelpenninck joined the foundation's board. A professional profile describes Verhoeven as a partner of the Amsterdam law firm Houthoff, with van Boekel listed at the same firm, and an online encyclopedia article describes Schimmelpenninck as an Amsterdam insolvency lawyer who served as trustee in the bankruptcy of Lehman's Dutch subsidiary. ^{2 3 4 5}

analysisLBT's intercompany claim against LBHI was allowed in Class 4A at $34,548,000,000. On March 20, 2019 LBT sold $10.5 billion of it for $179.5 million, and LBHI and Lehman Brothers Special Financing, which held 12.9% of the claims against LBT, received an in-kind assignment of a $4.4 billion portion; the claim then stood at $19,626,452,736, and by the end of 2023 LBHI's distributions on it totalled $12,805,192,530. LBT valued its remaining receivable at 0.172% of nominal at December 31, 2023, excluding possible recoveries from LB GP No. 1 Ltd and from LBIE's case against AG Financial Products. ²

analysisOn August 18, 2026 LBT announced, through its U.S. counsel Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer (US) LLP, that its placement agent Seaport Loan Products LLC had closed the sale of its remaining $19.6 billion Class 4A claim, with the proceeds to fund a final distribution to noteholders expected in October 2026 and LBT to be wound down by the end of 2026. Two days later a transfer agreement filed in LBHI's case moved LBT's Claim No. 58612, listed at $12,168,400,696.39, to Stonehill Institutional Partners, LP. The release does not name the buyer, and the filed transfer does not explain the difference from the $19.6 billion figure in the release. ^{6 7}

analysisIn LBT's bankruptcy Lehman Brothers Finance SA asserted claims of about $4.6 billion, about $1 billion of them from notes it held as ultimate beneficial owner through Lehman Brothers International (Europe); LBT's trustees disputed its ordinary claim. On January 24, 2013 the Amsterdam District Court held inadmissible, as filed out of time, LBF's appeal against the order approving the noteholders' voting procedure on the composition plan, and the Dutch Supreme Court upheld that decision. ⁸

analysisA German banking journal reported in December 2007 that from January 1, 2008 Lehman's German business would be led by a German Executive Committee of Michael Bonacker, Helmut Olivier, Patrick Schmitz-Morkramer and Christian Spieler. On September 15, 2008 the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) imposed a moratorium on Lehman Brothers Bankhaus AG because its U.S. parent LBHI was insolvent, and on November 12 applied for insolvency proceedings. The Frankfurt am Main insolvency court opened them on November 13, 2008 for excessive indebtedness and appointed the lawyer Michael C. Frege as administrator; the order names the bank's board as Bonacker, Hans Martin Bury, Schmitz-Morkramer, Spieler and Olivier. A German legal journal reported that creditors had filed claims of more than €38 billion, more than BaFin had originally assumed, and that Frege, of the law firm CMS Hasche Sigle, told them to expect a recovery of more than ten percent; Deutsche Bundesbank's own claim was paid in full by January 2015. ^{1 2 3 4}

analysisOn April 29, 2009 Frege, as foreign representative, asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York to recognise the German insolvency as a foreign main proceeding under Chapter 15. On October 15, 2009 he agreed to sell certain surplus notes, held for the bank in a custody account at JPMorgan Chase Bank, to Golden Gate Captive Insurance Company for $280 million. ³

analysisDeutsche Bundesbank reported in February 2015 that it had filed a remaining claim of about €1.9 billion in the German insolvency in early 2013; because LBHI had guaranteed the bank's liabilities, it was also a creditor in the U.S. proceedings, from which it received about €0.5 billion, with about €1.4 billion from the German proceedings. With a final payment in January 2015 its claim was paid in full. ²

analysisA notice published by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) records that bank bankruptcy proceedings were opened over Lehman Brothers Finance AG in Zurich on December 22, 2008, with PricewaterhouseCoopers AG as liquidator; FINMA's case page lists the company as Lehman Brothers Finance AG in Liquidation with creditor communications as recent as 2021. LBHI's 2025 report describes LBHI as LBF's largest creditor and a dispute in which the Italian pension fund Enasarco claims CHF 67 million over the valuation of a terminated derivative. A Swiss court ruled for Enasarco in December 2021; after appeals the Federal Supreme Court granted LBF's appeal in September 2023, the Zurich High Court ruled against LBF in May 2025 and LBF appealed again. LBF argued that the trade should have been valued at the early termination date, which would have produced a receivable for LBF, and it pursued that receivable in the U.K. courts without success. The outcome also determines LBHI's last remaining disputed claim, and at the report date it was pending before the Federal Supreme Court. ^{1 2}

analysisCompanies House records that Lehman Brothers Holdings PLC (01854685) has been in administration since September 15, 2008 with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP practitioners as administrators. It has no current officers: its last directors, among them Dominic Ian Gibb, Ian Michael Jameson and David Steven Rushton, resigned on July 17, 2009. Gibb and Jameson also sat on Lehman Brothers UK Holdings Limited, Lehman Brothers Limited, LB Holdings Intermediate 2 Limited and Lehman Brothers International (Europe), and Rushton on LB GP No. 1 Ltd. until February 2009. Ian Theo Lowitt was a director of the PLC and of Lehman Brothers UK Holdings Limited from July 2000, and of LBIE and Lehman Brothers Europe Limited from May 2006, until April 17, 2007. ^{1 2 3 4 5 6 7}

analysisLBHI holds a subordinated claim of £1.061 billion against the PLC. After LBHI was allowed to appeal an English judgment on the ranking of its claims, LBHI, the PLC, LB GP No. 1 Limited and Deutsche Bank AG (London Branch) resolved the disputes in an Amended Framework Agreement of October 2, 2024 and the appeal was dismissed by consent. Under that agreement and agreements with ECAPS holders, LBHI receives about 36% of funds for subordinated creditors up to £225 million and about 64% above that; on the administrators' February 2025 base case it would receive about £69 million. The PLC is the sole beneficiary of LB Holdings Intermediate 2 Limited, which through the Wentworth Joint Venture receives 75% of future distributions from LBIE. ^{8 9}

analysisLehman Brothers International (Europe) (02538254) entered administration on September 15, 2008, also with PricewaterhouseCoopers practitioners. The administration ended on October 8, 2025, when a members' voluntary liquidation began after a declaration of solvency. On January 14, 2025 the New York Court of Appeals denied LBIE leave to appeal in its case against Assured Guaranty; LBHI stated that this would reduce its maximum potential recoveries but not its expected recoveries. ^{10 8}