Could Lehman Deal Become a Fundraising Goldmine?
Rumors are running rampant that we are just hours away from hearing that Lehman Brothers has agreed to sell its investment management group to either a single private equity firm (CD&R) or pair of private equity firms (Bain Capital & Hellman & Friedman). Oh, and I still say this makes too much sense for KKR to not be involved until the final minute. This would be the whole enchilada as opposed to the original 55% stake, although reports vary on total price (anywhere from $4b-$7b, which means finding leverage could present the largest hurdle). There's lots of reasons for private equity firms not to buy Lehman IM, including: (a) Lack of certainty that wealth managers won't bail; (b) Lack of certainty that private equity managers won't bail/insist on spinning out and (c) Lack of certainty that one of the coming lawsuits won't stick. But there's also an unusual reason why this deal could be particularly lucrative
