In the course of preparing his 2,200-page report on the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Anton Valukas interviewed more than 250 individuals.
But there was only person the court-appointed Examiner couldn’t talk to:
The Examiner requested an interview with Hector Sants, chief executive of the UK’s Financial Services Authority (“FSA”), to discuss the FSA’s involvement in the events of Lehman Weekend and the Barclays transaction. The FSA considered the request, but did not make Mr. Sants available for an interview. However, the FSA did provide detailed, written answers to specific questions that would have been posed to Mr. Sants.
However, the FSA made Sants’ response public in January, and it is well worth going over the document again, not least because it shows Barclays’ rather cavalier attitude to its shareholders as it tried to gain clearance to bid for Lehman Brothers.
Here’s an excerpt:
That’s right, Barclays sought confirmation from the FSA that the Lehman deal and guarantee required shareholder approval. The implication being that if it could, Barclays would not have put the deal before investors.
But, as readers have noted, is not necessarily as cavalier as it might seem. After all, the only way to save Lehman was to do it over that weekend in September. There simply wasn’t time to wait for a shareholder vote.
In any case , the FSA was in no position to let that happen:
And Barclays eventually decided not to proceed with its bid:
And the rest is history.
For further details on Barclays’ failed attempt to buy Lehman, James Mackintosh’s piece on FT dot comment is worth a read.
Related links:
BarCap faces its toughest challenge – FT
The genesis of Repo 105 – FT Alphaville
Cap * 105 – FT Alphaville