Administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers has begun gathering expressions of interest in Lehman Brothers’ $15bn (£8.2bn) European property portfolio.

PwC was appointed following the collapse of the US investment bank on Monday. Since then it has been reviewing the property assets held by Lehman’s principal European property company, Lehman Brothers UK Real Estate Holdings (LBUKRE).

‘Despite the complexity of LBUKRE and its trading activities, the administrators have made considerable progress in identifying what assets are under the control of LBUKRE and have taken steps to ensure that the pace and structure of any disposals optimise the realisations generated for the creditors of LBUKRE,’ Barry Gilbertson, partner at PwC, said.

‘LBUKRE appears to have more than 200 subsidiary entities or joint ventures, with property activities covering both investment and development. These properties are principally located in the UK, but also in Sweden, France, Finland, Spain, Croatia and several additional European countries. The total underlying asset value, before allowing for funding structures, is considered to be in the region of $15bn (£8.2bn).

‘In addition, there are non-performing loan and mortgage portfolios, together with a limited number of private equity interests and shareholdings in listed businesses.

'Our review of the LBUKRE portfolio will not be completed for several weeks, but we are gathering all expressions of interest so that we can communicate with interested parties as soon as we are ready.’

UK bank Barclays has bought Lehman’s US investment banking operations, but the European business has not found a saviour.