Lehman Brothers loses $3.9bn in third quarter
Lehman Brothers on Wednesday confirmed plans to spin off the majority of its commercialreal estate assets and sell a majority stake in its asset management unit as the beleaguered Wall Street bank reported a $3.9bn net loss for the third quarter of the year.
Lehman,which has seen its share price plummet in recent days amid growingconcerns about the bank's financial position, did not provide anyconcrete updates about its efforts to attract outside investors.However, the bank said it remained "committed to examining allstrategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value."
Creditdefault swaps on the bank - instruments that provide a form ofinsurance on its debt - widened to over 600 basis points from 470 bpbefore the announcement. This suggested that Lehman was considered morelikely to default than before.
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