PwC given three-year extension for Lehman Brothers administration

Administrators from the professional services firm say, by granting the extension, the court has “recognised the ongoing complexity of unwinding the group’s affairs”, with the move meaning the process will be extended to 30 November 2025.  

Lehman Brothers – which at the time of its collapse was the fourth-largest investment bank in the US with $639bn in assets and $613bn in liabilities – filed for bankruptcy in September 2008, becoming the largest bankruptcy in US history and exacerbated the global financial crisis.  

The firm’s European arm employed around 5,500 staff when it went bust, resulting in the fire sale of some of its operations and job cuts leaving 500 of its own staff to assist PwC with the administration. The last of its UK staff were let go in 2018, resulting in the bank leaving its Canary Wharf office a year later.  

Commenting on the extension, a PwC spokesperson said: “The Lehman Brothers administration is one of the largest, most complex and successful insolvencies in history, requiring a vast range of skills and expertise.  

“Over 14 years, we have successfully returned over £43bn in total to counterparties, repaying creditors in full, plus interest. The fees incurred during the course of the administration point to the scale and complexity of this long-term global insolvency. 

“A myriad of new legislation and new powers of intervention have been built directly from the lessons learned as a result of the Lehman administration. In granting the three-year extension, the court has recognised the ongoing complexity of unwinding the group’s affairs.”