Richard Fuld, the chairman of Lehman Brothers, rang up Barclays on at least three separate occasions in 2008 to ask the British bank to take over the faltering US firm.
The detail came out during an examination of Barclays president Bob Diamond in a trial related to the UK financial institution's takeover of Lehman Brothers' assets, which went through a week after the bank collapsed.
Mr Diamond said Barclays was determined to get the best possible deal it could, reports Bloomberg.
"The markets were depressed and what was important to us was the price in the context of the turmoil in the financial markets," he stated.
Barclays is facing a lawsuit for Lehman Brothers creditors and liquidators over accusations it negotiated a secret $5 billion discount from the value of the US company's book of securities in return for promising jobs to the executives who signed off the deal.
Earlier this month, an insider close to Barclays told the Guardian that the low price of Lehman Brothers at the time was down to it being a "very distressed asset".
By Gary Cooper
The detail came out during an examination of Barclays president Bob Diamond in a trial related to the UK financial institution's takeover of Lehman Brothers' assets, which went through a week after the bank collapsed.
Mr Diamond said Barclays was determined to get the best possible deal it could, reports Bloomberg.
"The markets were depressed and what was important to us was the price in the context of the turmoil in the financial markets," he stated.
Barclays is facing a lawsuit for Lehman Brothers creditors and liquidators over accusations it negotiated a secret $5 billion discount from the value of the US company's book of securities in return for promising jobs to the executives who signed off the deal.
Earlier this month, an insider close to Barclays told the Guardian that the low price of Lehman Brothers at the time was down to it being a "very distressed asset".
By Gary Cooper
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