Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. creditors including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. have drafted a payment plan that would compete with the defunct bank's $61 billion proposal, taking back money that Lehman sought to give to bondholders, said two people familiar with the matter.
The draft plan from the Goldman Sachs group, which also includes more than 10 banks that have derivatives claims against Lehman, has met with disapproval from Lehman and may be filed in court by next week, said one of the people, who declined to be identified because the plan is not public.
Bryan Marsal, the chief executive of Lehman, did not return emails seeking comment.
Michael DuVally, a Goldman Sachs spokesman, did not comment on the matter. Blackstone Group LP has advised the derivatives group for about a year, the two people said. Peter Rose, a Blackstone spokesman, did not comment.
Bank of America Corp., Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank AG, Citigroup Inc., HSBC Holdings PLC, Barclays PLC and Credit Suisse Group AG have filed derivatives claims that range from at least $900 million to almost $3 billion against Lehman's special financing unit, based on claim records.
A "high percentage" of the largest derivatives claim holders are in the group with Goldman, one of the people said.
The rival plan, developed by Goldman Sachs and other derivatives creditors, would be the second that Marsal has had to contend with, in trying to get Lehman out of bankruptcy court after collecting $412.7 million in fees in 29½ months for his restructuring firm.
The hedge fund Paulson & Co. and other bondholders submitted a plan in December that said the group would take money from derivatives creditors to give to bondholders.
Lehman, in turn, responded to the Paulson group's plan by saying in its plan submitted in January that it would share the money more in line with the bondholders' proposal.
The Paulson group also includes the California Public Employees' Retirement System, or Calpers, and Pacific Investment Management Co.
Any creditors who want to have their plan considered along with Lehman's should file it with the bankruptcy court judge by April 29, the Paulson group said in a statement.
Over the next few years, Marsal expects to raise roughly $61 billion from Lehman's assets to pay about $320 billion in claims, or an average of 18.6 cents on the dollar for each creditor, he said in January. Lehman filed for bankruptcy court protection in 2008, listing $613 billion in debt.
Bankrupt companies can sometimes impose their own plan on creditors who oppose it.
The Goldman Sachs group also believes that a so-called cram-down might be difficult for Lehman because its proposal conflicts with bankruptcy law in taking money from derivatives creditors, one of the people familiar with the matter said.
Goldman Sachs' two biggest claims filed against the Lehman Brothers Special Financing unit totaled about $2.5 billion, according to claim records.
Goldman Sachs filed duplicate claims based on guarantees by Lehman, filings showed. Goldman Sachs, which trades Lehman IOUs, sold Silver Point Capital LP funds a $10.5 million LBSF claim earlier this year, according to a March 30 filing.
Because of a so-called "double dip," derivatives creditors were originally in line to receive 38.3 cents on the dollar as Lehman liquidated, Paulson and other bondholders calculated. The bondholders would then cut that to 25.7 cents and raise their payout to 24.5 cents.
Lehman is attempting to secure a judge's approval of its plan by Nov. 17 following an October vote. The company is negotiating with creditors on its details.
Any approval of the plan would be "contentious," given the existence of the competing proposal by Paulson and the other creditors, Lehman has said.
