Report: Lehman Buying NYSE Specialist

Lehman Brothers(LEH Quote - Cramer on LEH - Stock Picks) is expected to take over the New York Stock Exchange floor trading operations of the closing specialist firm Van der Moolen, according to published reports.

The Financial Times reported late Tuesday that Lehman is set to buy the firm, which said earlier this month that it would shut down its specialist operations. Van der Moolen CEO Richard den Drijver said earlier this month that the unit was unprofitable and the company would now instead focus on expanding its brokerage and equity trading operations in the U.S. at the Chicago Board Stock Exchange, an offshoot of the Chicago Board Options Exchange.

Van der Moolen's departure came the same week SIG Specialists, a unit of Susquehanna International Group, announced it would also shut down NYSE operations.

NYSE Euronext(NYX Quote - Cramer on NYX - Stock Picks), which operates the more than 200-year-old Big Board, has moved much of the trading at the exchange to an electronic platform since its merger last year with Archipelago. About 85% of the exchange's volume is now automatically executed, incoming CEO Duncan Niederauer said earlier this month.