Lehman Brothers International Europe (LBIE)
administrators PwC has returned a further £2.1bn to creditors and
realised £1.6bn of house assets in the last six months of 2010.
This means the joint administrators have returned a total of
£12.8bn to creditors and realised £10.7bn in house assets although
creditors are believed to be owed a further £13bn to £16bn.

Administrators said the value of the eventual
recovery for ordinary unsecured creditors may be affected by the
outcome of related litigation that has taken place in the
period.

“Some of the most substantial issues that need
to be resolved relate to claims being made between a small number
of Lehman group companies, with the outcomes materially benefitting
creditors in one estate, to the cost of creditors in another,”
Lehman Brothers joint administrator and PwC partner Tony Lomas
explained.

“This situation arises from the huge volumes
and value of transactions that were traded between affiliates
before the group collapsed, combined with the immense complexity of
the contractual arrangements.”

LBIE joint chief operating officer and PwC
partner Jane Woolcott said the organisation continues to employ
about 500 Lehman employees and contractors that are crucial to the
administrators’ efforts to wind the business down and return money
to creditors.

“Most of the staff working at Lehmans have
been with us since the beginning of the administration and continue
to enjoy the benefits of working for a fully functioning investment
bank,” Woolcott said.

“They have full access to learning and
development and we continue to run competitive development schemes
with all the reward and promotional opportunities and benefits you
would find in any other company in Canary Wharf. In the last six
months alone, we have recruited 45 staff and look to replace PwC
staff with experienced external hires wherever possible.”

For carrying out the administration work, PwC
earned £65.3m in fees in the second half of 2010, bringing the
total administration fee to £322m to date. This makes the firm one
of the highest paid administrators of a single corporate
failure.

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