Japan firms not among Lehman investors -sources

TOKYO, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Japanese financial firms will not be named among the potential investors in Lehman Brothers LEH.N when the subprime-hit U.S. investment bank announces its recovery strategy later on Wednesday, people familiar with the matter said.

Lehman is under pressure to raise capital after $7 billion worth of losses and write-downs in the credit crisis, and the bank said it would announce "key strategic initiatives" and quarterly results on Wednesday, a week earlier than originally planned. [ID:nN09324233]

Lehman previously approached several of Japan's largest financial firms about a potential investment, but in all cases no agreement was reached, said sources at Japan's largest banks, all of whom declined to be identified because the information is not yet public.

A separate source at Japan's regulator, the Financial Services Agency, confirmed that top banks such as Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (8306.T), as well as Nomura Holdings (8604.T), Japan's biggest brokerage, will not be named as investors.

"No Japanese firm will be named (as an investor) when Lehman makes its announcement," said the FSA source.

Shares of Lehman, Wall Street's fourth-largest firm, lost nearly half their value on Tuesday on concern the bank will be unable to raise sufficient capital to survive the global credit fallout.

The company's stock price has lost almost 80 percent of its value so far this year. Following Tuesday's stock decline, Lehman said it would bring its announcements forward by a week.

South Korea's state-run Korea Development Bank was in talks with Lehman about a possible investment, but that discussion has ended due to a lack of progress, a South Korean government official told Reuters on Wednesday. [ID:nSEO186732]

Blackstone Group LP (BX.N) and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co [KKR.UL] are each looking to buy parts of Lehman's real estate and asset management units, Reuters reported on Friday.

Media reports have named Mitsubishi UFJ and Nomura as potential investors. Mitsubishi UFJ has said there was no truth to the report, while Nomura declined to comment. (Reporting by Taro Fuse; Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Hugh Lawson)