Lehman Brothers' India ops saved from economic meltdown

A Japanese financial services outfit has agreed to purchase Lehman Brothers' India-based operational support businesses, rescuing roughly 3,000 people - including 1,200 IT professionals - from the worldwide economic meltdown.

The Tokyo-headquartered Nomura Holdings will acquire Lehman Brothers Services India Private Limited, Lehman Brothers Financial Services (India) Private Limited, and Lehman Brothers Structured Finance Services Private Limited - three companies set up in Powai, Mumbai in 2005.

Last month, Nomura said it would acquire Lehman Brothers' Asia Pacific franchise as well as its Europe and Middle East investment banking and equities businesses. The Asia-Pacific deal closed last week, and the Europe-Middle East will be finalized on October 13.

As you may have heard, Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on September 15, after 158 years of banking. The company's high-profile demise fell between the US government's seizure of mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the collapse of Merrill Lynch.

But the good news from Nomura is balanced by some bad from Accenture UK. According to ZDNet UK, the consulting outfit has cut 300 to 400 jobs amidst The Meltdown. Systems integration and technology staff will be hit hardest, the site says.

ZDNet says it has obtained a company email sent to workers who may be affected by the layoffs. In the email, Accenture attributes the cutbacks on "softness in the [UK] marketplace [which] in part reflects the global economic uncertainties that many companies are experiencing and more specifically issues in the UK financial-services market." ®