PwC to sell Lehman's Europe assets soon

London: PricewaterhouseCoopers, the administrators for Lehman Brothers International (Europe), aims to sell the bank's asset management and corporate finance units within days, PwC said on Friday.

"We are in discussions with potential partners at present and our aim is to complete a deal in the next few days," business services company PwC said in a statement.

But disposal of the group's European real estate interests was likely to take longer, even though the administrators had made good progress in identifying the assets involved, PwC said.

Lehman Brothers International (Europe) is the European unit of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc, which filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this week.

"As a result of being suspended from all markets Lehman Brothers was unable to trade," PwC said.

"Arrangements have been made to use the brokerage services of other market participants. This has enabled us to begin realising some of the companies' proprietary market positions."

In a separate e-mail PwC said it had identified real estate assets worth $15 billion under the control of subsidiary Lehman Brothers UK Real Estate Holdings Limited.

These buildings and property developments were located mainly in Britain but also in Sweden, France, Finland, Spain, Croatia, and other European countries, PwC said.