LEH

The Wall Street Journal reports Lehman Brothers (LEH) Monday night was negotiating a last-minute plan to sell large portions of itself to Barclays (BCS). Barclays Americas Chairman Archibald Cox Jr. was leading the talks, and an agreement is hoped to be reached by Tuesday, said a person involved in the talks. Lehman's top executives were huddled at the bank's Manhattan headquarters trying to craft a plan that would preserve many Lehman jobs and operations, say people briefed on the discussions. Barclays confirmed in a brief statement Tuesday it is "discussing with Lehman Brothers the possible acquisition of certain Lehman Brothers assets on terms that would be attractive to Barclays shareholders." The U.K. bank added that, at this stage, no deal is certain. Many questions remain, chief among them, the price that Barclays might pay for Lehman, whose holding co is now in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. That structure allows it to sell off other assets without liquidating, and gives it additional time to reach an agreement. The troubled assets, such as mortgage securities, will be left behind in the holding co for creditors to liquidate as they see fit, said people familiar with the deal. It is expected that at least 10,000 people would shift to Barclays as part of the transaction that would involve the broker-dealer operation and all of its divisions.