by PJ on 8/31/2008 03:20:00 PM

I've seen CR refer to some of the woes/speculation regarding the future for Lehman Bros; news today from the WSJ says that CEO Richard Fuld is a man with a plan. Er, or at least, we think so:

The Wall Street firm run by Chief Executive Officer Richard Fuld is still hammering out the final details and it isn't clear when a plan will be unveiled. One sticking point: finding financing in this cash-strapped environment for a spinoff or sale of these assets.

In addition to offloading the real-estate assets, Lehman is trying to sell its Neuberger Berman investment-management unit. Ideally, Lehman management would like to announce both transactions at the same time so it can assure investors that it has a bold plan to navigate its way out of the current credit crisis.

For the real-estate assets, Lehman has set up a so-called good bank/bad bank structure. Such a deal is likely to involve a spinoff of the holdings to shareholders as well as an investment by outside investors.

Details of the plan weren't clear. One option may be a "sponsored spin." That would involve bundling some of the troubled assets into a new entity, which would then be spun off to Lehman holders on a tax-free basis. Also, a new investor or group of investors could take a big minority stake in the new company, thus "sponsoring" it.

There's more in the Journal story, including the admission that Lehman's big plan involves it financing "at least some" of its own spinoffs, a la Merrill Lynch's $30bn CDO sale. Lehman's got about $65 billion in commercial and residential RE "assets" that would be part of the "sale." And with financing tough to come by, the cynic in me thinks that Lehman will end up self-financing more than "some" of whatever is eventually spun off.

And until more details emerge, I'm calling it a "sale," in quotes. Because financing the sale of your own assets to a company you have majority interest in is sort of like letting your brother date an annoying ex: you think you've cut ties, but she keeps showing up at the dinner table anyway.