The few hedge funds that put their money on the recoverable value from the bankrupt remains of Lehman Bros is set to receive a windfall in the hundreds of millions. This comes as the bank's European arm makes a full payout to its creditors.
Five years after the bank's collapse, the payouts to be made to its creditors in Europe are said to reach over 100% by 2014. This comes after a recovery of assets made by administrators and their legal victories.
According to Tony Lomas, joint administrator for Lehman Bros International Europe and Partner at PriceWaterhouseCoopers, "We were reasonably confident there would be some significant funds, but never in our wildest dreams would we have thought it would be 100 pence in the pound."
Back in 2008, the collapse of Lehman Brothers marked the start of the chaotic decline of the global financial system. The bank's London based European arm was the largest part of the group as it became a hub for investments and trading, which covered many classes of assets with a footprint in over many dozens of countries. The unwinding of the thousands of derivatives agreements and share trading contracts made this the most complex bankruptcy process in all of history.
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