--- title: "How the Lehman group was structured and financed" language: en canonical: https://dossiertwist.com/dossiers/lehman-brothers-holdings/group-structure/ as_of: 2026-10-14 keywords: ["Lehman Brothers Holdings","LBHI","Repo 105","Valukas examiner report","Ernst & Young","Chapter 11","Lehman Brothers Inc.","SIPA liquidation","Lehman Brothers Treasury Co.","Lehman Brothers Bankhaus","Lehman Brothers International (Europe)","Plan Trust","Alvarez & Marsal","Richard Fuld","Aurora Loan Services","BNC Mortgage","JPMorgan Chase","Barclays Capital","American Express","Lehman Brothers Special Financing"] --- # How the Lehman group was structured and financed **Question.** Which subsidiaries made up the Lehman group, and how was it financed when it failed? **Answer.** LBHI was the holding company of the broker-dealer Lehman Brothers Inc. and, according to its 2005 list of significant subsidiaries, of a U.S. chain including the derivatives, banking and asset-management companies and a European chain under Lehman Brothers UK Holdings (Delaware) Inc. that included the Dutch note issuer Lehman Brothers Treasury Co. At the bankruptcy its largest listed debts were about $138 billion of senior notes and about $17 billion of subordinated debt, followed by bank loans from Japanese, European and other banks, and its German bank owed Deutsche Bundesbank about €8.5 billion under an LBHI guarantee. ## The subsidiaries in the 2005 list - Analysis: In November 2007 LBHI described itself as a holding company and the direct 100% parent of Lehman Brothers Inc. (LBI), a Delaware broker-dealer at 745 Seventh Avenue, and of Lehman (Cayman Islands) Ltd. Exhibit 21.01 to its annual report for fiscal 2005, which lists only significant subsidiaries, places directly under LBHI, among others, LBI, Lehman Brothers Commercial Corporation, Lehman Brothers Finance S.A. (Switzerland), Lehman Brothers OTC Derivatives Inc, Lehman Brothers Bancorp Inc., Lehman Brothers U.K. Holdings (Delaware) Inc., Lehman Re Ltd. (Bermuda), Lehman ALI Inc., Lehman Brothers Asset Management Inc and Neuberger Berman Inc.; Lehman Brothers Special Financing Inc. and Lehman Commercial Paper Inc are listed under LBI. [src-005] [src-047] - Analysis: In the same list Lehman Brothers U.K. Holdings (Delaware) Inc. heads the European chain. Lehman Brothers Treasury Co. B.V. in the Netherlands sits directly beneath it, while a U.K. holding company leads to Lehman Brothers Holdings Plc., under which are Lehman Brothers International (Europe) and the holding companies of the mortgage lenders Southern Pacific Mortgage Limited and Preferred Mortgages Limited. Lehman Brothers Bankhaus Aktiengesellschaft is listed under a German holding company directly under LBHI. [src-047] - Analysis: The list places Property Asset Management Inc. under Lehman ALI Inc., and West Virginia's business registry record for LBHI, which shows annual reports up to 2019 and a termination on August 20, 2021, lists both as its subsidiaries. A commercial directory of New Hampshire registrations shows Lehman ALI registered there in 1998, with an activity code for mortgage-related business and its status administratively suspended after a last annual report for 2019. [src-047] [src-070] [src-083] ## Asset management - Analysis: A December 2003 SEC notice states that LBHI, the ultimate parent of LBI, Lehman Brothers Asset Management Inc. and the Neuberger Berman companies, acquired Lincoln Capital Fixed Income Management Company, LLC on January 31, 2003 and Neuberger Berman, LLC and Neuberger Berman Management Inc. on October 31, 2003. Before the acquisition Neuberger Berman Inc., a Delaware holding company organised in 1998, reported that its significant wholly owned subsidiaries were those two companies and Neuberger Berman Trust Company, N.A., with $53.6 billion of assets under management at September 30, 2002. [src-095] [src-113] ## Holdings in other companies - Analysis: LBHI's November 2007 Schedule 13D reports that it beneficially owned 11.2% of GLG Partners, Inc., almost all through Lehman (Cayman Islands) Ltd., which received 33,659,998 shares on November 2, 2007 when GLG Partners, Inc. acquired the GLG group in which it held an interest; LBI held a further 692 shares and 3,150 units. A database of offshore corporate records published by investigative journalists lists LBHI, at its 2008 headquarters address, as a shareholder of Wilton Re Holdings Limited, a Bermuda company; the entry gives no stake or dates and does not by itself indicate any wrongdoing. [src-005] [src-007] ## How the group was financed in 2008 - Analysis: Exhibit A to LBHI's petition gives consolidated total assets of $639 billion and debts of $613 billion at May 31, 2008, with $128.182 billion of debt securities in three listed tranches. The list of the 30 largest unsecured claims, a separate measure, begins with about $138 billion of senior notes, for which Citibank, N.A. was indenture trustee and The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation trustee for the Euro Medium Term Notes, and about $12 billion of subordinated and $5 billion of junior subordinated debt. Bank creditors include Aozora Bank ($463 million), Mizuho Corporate Bank ($289 million and $93 million), Citibank's Hong Kong branch ($275 million), BNP Paribas ($250 million), Shinsei Bank ($231 million), UFJ Bank ($185 million) and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation ($177 million), with letters of credit from Svenska Handelsbanken and KBC Bank. The bank amounts are the debtor's estimates as of July 2, 2008, listed in the petition, not allowed claims, and the debtors stated that the list was not an admission of liability. [src-014] - Analysis: Two subsidiaries raised funding for the group outside the United States. Lehman Brothers Treasury Co. B.V., incorporated in Amsterdam on March 8, 1995, financed the group by issuing structured notes to institutional and retail investors; it was wholly owned by Lehman Brothers UK Holdings (Delaware) Inc., itself wholly owned by LBHI. Through Lehman Brothers Bankhaus AG in Frankfurt LBHI conducted the group's monetary-policy operations with the Eurosystem; at the September 15, 2008 moratorium the bank owed Deutsche Bundesbank about €8.5 billion from refinancing operations, secured by 33 pledged securities, mainly asset-backed securities, and guaranteed by LBHI. [src-039] [src-120] ## Sources - [src-005] Schedule 13D filed by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. regarding GLG Partners, Inc. (with annex of directors and executive officers), U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR), 2007-11 - [src-047] Exhibit 21.01 to LBHI's Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended November 30, 2005 (list of subsidiaries), U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR), 2006-02 - [src-070] West Virginia Secretary of State: business record of LEHMAN BROTHERS HOLDINGS, INC., West Virginia Secretary of State, 2026-10-14 - [src-083] Corporate registry source · src-083 - [src-095] Lehman Brothers Inc., et al.; notice of application (Release No. IC-26263), Federal Register (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission notice), 2003-12-01 - [src-113] Neuberger Berman Inc. Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2002, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR), 2002-11 - [src-007] Other source · src-007 - [src-014] Court record source · src-014 - [src-039] Company statement source · src-039 - [src-120] Deutsche Bundesbank: final payment received from the Lehman insolvency proceedings, Deutsche Bundesbank, 2015-02