NEW YORK — Lehman Brothers put itself on the block Wednesday as part of a last-ditch effort to rescue the investment bank from bad bets on real-estate-related holdings that have already laid low other storied Wall Street firms.
The 158-year-old company’s chief executive, Dick Fuld, known as “the Gorilla” for his bloody-minded approach to investment banking, outlined a plan to sell off Lehman’s well-respected investment-management unit and spin off its commercial-real-estate assets after it reported a third-quarter loss of almost $4 billion.
Fuld, the longest-serving CEO on Wall Street, also said the firm would examine all other options — including a sale of the company he joined right out of college. Finding a buyer might pre-empt any hostile takeovers now that Lehman’s stock has plunged from $67.73 a year ago to $7.25 Wednesday, giving it a shrunken market capitalization of $7.6 billion.
“If anybody came with an attractive proposition that was compelling for shareholder value, it would be brought to the board, discussed with the board and evaluated,” Fuld said on a conference call. “We remain committed to examining all strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value.”
For investors, the strategy Fuld presented seemed long on hope and short on details and raised questions about timing and execution, analysts said. Investors had hoped to see a solid plan in place to offset nearly $6.5 billion of losses during the past two quarters.
“This is agonizing for shareholders,” said Mark Williams, a professor of finance at Boston University School of Management. “Fuld was supposed to have a war room started in March, when Bear Stearns nearly collapsed, to solve these problems, and at this point he has failed miserably.”
The nation’s fourth-largest investment bank plans to sell a 55 percent stake in its investment-management division, which includes its prized Neuberger Berman asset- management unit.
