A New York bankruptcy judge has approved the £700 million acquisition of US investment bank Lehman Brothers.
The deal gives Barclays plc permission to buy the fourth largest bank in the United States – taking control of its US$1 billion skyscraper in Manhattan, and 9,000 former staff.
The deal comes after the Lehman Brothers bank collapsed on Monday. The Judge, James Peck, approved the move after a seven-hour hearing which he described as the "most momentous bankruptcy hearing I have ever sat though." The Lehman Brothers bankruptcy earlier this week was the largest in US history.
Barclays had agreed to buy Lehman’s North American banking and trading unit for US$250 million, but the figure shrunk as valuations turned out to be less than expected.
Lawyers for Lehman Brothers said that accounts worth around US$138 billion were dependent on the sale being successful, and they were confident that the deal would protect thousands of jobs.
"I have to approve this transaction because it is the only available transaction," Peck told the court. "Lehman Brothers became a victim, in effect the only true icon to fall in a tsunami that has befallen the credit markets," the judge said.