Managed Funds Association (MFA) President and Chief Executive Officer Richard H. Baker, has issued a statement in response to the a Congressional resolution, introduced by Congressman Greg Meeks, seeking action in freeing the assets trapped at Lehman Brothers International (Europe).
Meeks put forward a resolution that [Lehman’s] administrators in the United States and United Kingdom should establish an international framework for coordinating bankruptcy proceedings among the business holdings and operations of each company. Meek has blamed British Law, and the liability it imposes on administrators for the slow pace of returning prime brokerage assets and asked for exceptions to be made. In August, Justice William Blackburne rejected a settlement proposal, which would have blocked claims for assets after 2009 and allowed PricewaterhouseCoopers to start returning some of the $11 billion assets it has held since the Lehman Brothers collapse by the first quarter of 2010.
In his statement, Baker said: MFA commends Congressman Meeks for taking a leadership role in seeking action and answers about the $50 billion in assets that have been trapped at Lehman Brothers in the U.K. for 12-months. These assets belong to many U.S. foundations, endowments, public and private pension plans. Since many constituents of both public and private sectors continue to suffer from a difficult economy, they cannot afford additional contributions to their pension plans and need access to their investments in order to continue to fund their obligations. We are pleased to see the U.S. Congress become proactive in helping to get these trapped assets returned and put back into action in the markets.
Sarah Keane