Lehman Bros. Holdings Corp., now just the odds and ends of the global financial behemoth that collapsed in September 2008, received court approval Tuesday to exit bankruptcy early next year.
Lehman may now wind down its remaining operations, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge James Peck said at a hearing in New York. Once a mammoth investment bank and brokerage, Lehman is now a collection of assets including real estate, private equity and banking investments.
Lehman proposed to the court Tuesday that its bankruptcy exit occur no earlier than Jan. 31, giving it time to prepare to stand on its own and paving the way for payouts to creditors to start in 2012.
Unsecured creditors will receive about 21 cents to 28 cents on the dollar, depending on the type of security they held. Shareholders, whose stock in the company hit a high of $86.18 in February 2007, according to Reuters Data, will receive nothing.