If you own Lehman Brothers structured products, the Bankruptcy Court makes it easy for you to file your claim in the Lehman bankruptcy proceedings. You may file your own proof of claim, or have your attorney file a claim on your behalf, but you also have a convenient alternative.
Wilmington Trust Company will represent the interest of investors who own Lehman structured products — including Lehman Principal Protected Notes — by filing a global claim in the bankruptcy. In order to participate, you just need to complete the one-page Trustee’s Mailing Matrix and send it to Wilmington Trust. If you own Lehman structured products (sometimes referred to as Lehman notes), you should have already received your copy of the Trustee’s Mailing Matrix in the mail. However, if you do not have your form, click on the link at the bottom of this article to download a copy.
You will need the following information in order to complete the Matrix form:
- The name of your broker or investment advisor
- A list of the products you own, including the amounts and the CUSIP numbers. CUSIP (Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures) numbers are unique identifying codes that are assigned to all securities. CUSIP numbers for individual products can be found on trade confirmations, which are the notices you receive when you buy or sell a security.
It is too early to know how much, if anything, Lehman notes and structured products investors will recover in the Lehman bankruptcy. At this point, it is not even clear what priority structured notes and other structured products will be given.
Ordinarily, structured product holders should have the same priority as bondholders; however, the bankruptcy court could decide to treat structured product claims differently. One reason for differentiating between bondholders and structured product holders is that while a value can be readily established for bonds, structured products had no established price prior to maturity.
Vernon • Healy recommends that Lehman structured product holders pursue all their recovery options. In addition to filing a bankruptcy claim, investors with small claims should consider participating in the class action (which means timely completing and returning the class action claim forms).
Vernon • Healy represents investors with larger losses who will likely fare better by pursuing their claims on an individual basis, as opposed to participating in the class action. Click here to read more about the firm.
Click here to download the Trustee’s Mailing Matrix. Download Matrix