By Steve Slater and Lorraine Turner
LONDON (Reuters) - British bank Barclays
A deal could save thousands of jobs and many of Lehman's core investment bank operations, a day after the U.S. bank's holding company filed for bankruptcy protection.
Barclays said on Tuesday it was in talks to buy some of Lehman's assets on terms that would need to be attractive to its shareholders. It declined to comment further.
The talks mainly involve the core U.S. business, which has 8,000 to 10,000 staff, but could include some of its global businesses, several people familiar with the matter said.
One source said a deal was close, but there was no guarantee it will be sealed as the matter is complex. FT.com said a deal had been reached.
Barclays is not interested in Lehman's asset management and wealth management arms, the sources said.
They said there is an urgency to the talks as a deal would need to be struck before staff and clients leave and damage the franchise.
A deal would include staff, infrastructure, licenses and some of Lehman's financial positions, but would not leave the UK bank exposed to Lehman's troubled assets, the sources said.
Barclays was involved in frantic talks over the weekend to rescue Lehman, but quit after U.S. authorities would not guarantee the U.S. investment bank's trading obligations.
That prompted Lehman's New York-based holding company to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, sending shockwaves around world financial markets as a year-long credit crunch claimed another, bigger victim.
One of the bank's top 15 investors, who declined to be named, questioned the merit of pursuing Lehman in the current climate, however.
"Does Barclays not have better things to do with its capital? I don't think it's an environment for banking people to be brave," he said.
Barclays shares recovered from an early fall and by 1522 GMT were down 0.1 percent at 315 pence, valuing the bank at 26 billion pounds. The DJ Stoxx European bank index <.SX7P> was down 3.7 percent.
Most bank shares were hit for a second day by fears of more collapses and higher borrowing costs.
(Additional reporting by Raji Menon)
(Editing by David Cowell)
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