Lehman in talks to sell real estate assets-Bloomberg

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc LEH.N is looking to sell about $14 billion of commercial real estate assets, and BlackRock Inc (BLK.N) is among the companies eyeing the assets, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.

Lehman, reeling from the credit crunch, is looking to sell assets by the end of the year, Bloomberg reported, citing potential buyers approached by the investment bank.

Any sale would follow Merrill Lynch & Co Inc's MER.N announcement last month that it agreed to sell $30.6 billion of repackaged debt known as collateralized debt obligations for about 22 cents on the dollar.

Wall Street firms are broadly looking to shed their riskiest assets to restore investor confidence, which has been shaken by more than $400 billion of write-downs and credit losses at financial firms globally.

Lehman's balance sheet has about $40 billion of commercial real estate and related securities on its balance sheet.

"Clearly this area of exposure Lehman has is weighing on its credit," said Jason Brady, portfolio manager at Thornburg Investment Management in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Reducing commercial real estate exposure could force another $1.5 billion of write-downs, Merrill Lynch analyst Guy Moszkowski wrote in a report on Wednesday, adding that the level of the write-downs would depend on the size and terms of any sale.

The New York Post reported at the beginning of August that Lehman was in preliminary talks to sell some $30 billion of commercial mortgages.

Randy Whitestone, a Lehman spokesman, declined to comment, citing a policy against commenting on rumors or speculation.

(Reporting by Dan Wilchins; Editing by Braden Reddall)