And from out of the wilderness field, there came Nomura

Finally. Some good news. The nine days of uncertainty, limbo and up in the air-ness are seemingly over.

I'm not sure how widely reported this is in the UK - even Bloomberg TV over here seems to be determined to report only on the fact that Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have succumbed and are no longer 'pure' investment banks and not much else - so I feel it my duty to bring you the next, and somewhat happier, chapter in the story known as 'The Bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers.'

Made official by a press release, Nomura Holdings, Inc. has bought the Asia-Pacific operations of Lehman (which include equity trading and investment banking) for an as yet undisclosed fee.

Most significantly, this takeover includes the retention of all Lehman Asia's employees (around 3,000 people) and they will all be offered employment contracts with Nomura. In layman's terms (pun intended), that means Pies and pals can breathe a lot easier with the knowledge that they will not only get paid this week, but will also have a job beyond the end of the month.

Of course, new owners could mean new rules. It's not yet known if salaries and terms etc. will stay the same, but hallelujah! It at least gives the guys some breathing space to decide what they want to do without being unemployed in the very near future.

ps if the title of this post seems somewhat cryptic, it's because Nomura (埜村) in Japanese means wilderness field, or field village - but that didn't work so well in this context!

picture source (Happiness in Japanese): http://img.qj.net/uploads/articles_module/1537/happiness_20_28japanese_29.jpg