Management Group Wins Neuberger

The Bain-Hellman team had agreed to buy the unit in partnership with the management on Sept. 29, just two weeks after Lehman filed for protection from its creditors in the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history.

That agreement kick-started a bankruptcy court auction that began in mid-October and ended Wednesday after bids were due Dec. 1. Private equity firm Carlyle Group raised objections over the sale process but did not end up submitting its own bid.

Lehman's Sept. 15 bankruptcy, six months after the fire sale of Bear Stearns, came at the beginning of a tumultuous month on Wall Street. The federal government has engineered takeovers of Fannie Mae(FNM Quote), Freddie Mac (FRE Quote) and AIG(AIG Quote). Regulators seized Washington Mutual and brokered a sale of its deposits and assets to JPMorgan Chase(JPM Quote). Former investment banks Goldman Sachs (GS Quote) and Morgan Stanley (MS Quote) asked to be made into traditional bank holding companies in order to stave off a market attack on their shares.