Lehman/WaMu: Cap-in-hand

Lehman Brothers may need more cash. To raise some quickly, it might tap a financial investor for a big slug, and its largest shareholders for the remainder. The deal could be similar in structure to Washington Mutual’s capital-raising two months ago. The thrift sold a $7bn stake to private equity firm TPG and a group of its largest pre-existing investors. But Lehman would need to improve on WaMu’s precedent, which diluted non-participating shareholders too much. Here’s how it could work. Lehman...