Lehman Brothers, the beleaguered US investment bank, held secret talks to sell up to 50% of its shares to South Korean or Chinese parties in the first week of August but failed to reach agreement with either. Lehman held parallel talks at its NY headquarters with the government-owned Korea Development Bank and China’s Citic Securities. The South Koreans and Chinese concluded Lehman was asking too high a price, said people familiar with the discussions. The talks reflect growing pressure on Dick Fuld, Lehman’s chief executive, to raise capital ahead of the mid-Sept earnings report which, analysts said, could include $4bn in writedowns and bring the total so far to $12bn. Lehman shares have fallen nearly 85% since early 2007 and its market value is now about $9.5bn. Reuters meanwhile reports that Citic Securities said Thursday it had no formal talks with Lehman.
