Lehman moves to a new beat

By John Hill on October 13, 2008 5:47 PM |

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LEHMAN'S new owners have arrived in the Wharf with a bang.

Japanese bank Nomura closed its deal for the stricken giant on Monday, and promptly threw a party to drum up support among its new employees.

Traditional oriental drumming echoed through 25 Bank Street during a mixer between Lehman staff and their new Nomura counterparts from St Martin's-Le-Grand in the City.

Nomura has pledged to keep a "significant amount" of the 2,000 staff in the investment banking and equities divisions, which it snapped up for a nominal $2 on September 23.

Lehman Brothers - once a Wall Street colossus - had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on September 15 after a massive slump in its share value.

A representative of the company confirmed the Lehman components would be run separately until around the end of the year, when Nomura would be in a better position to consider plans for consolidation.

The bank's new management team celebrated with the traditional breaking of Saki barrels. Nomura's CEO of the acquired businesses in Europe and the Middle East Sadeq Sayeed quipped that the beating of drums would help lift the cloud of gloom hovering over the Wharf in recent months.

He said: "The reason for the drumming is traditionally to ward off demons, so now the credit crisis should be frightened away from us."