Baan Taling Ngam Resort on Koh Samui to be first local Lehman Brothers asset put on the block

It will be the bank's first asset in Thailand to be sold as an open-market transaction since the giant Wall Street investment bank collapsed in late 2008.

Binswanger Brooker (Thailand), a property consultancy, has been reviewing Lehman's local assets for the past three months as a consultant for potential investors. "[Lehman Brothers] assets that we're looking at mainly are hotel and hospitality businesses," said Nigel Cornick, CEO of Binswanger Brooker (Thailand).

"We have studied the opportunity for our clients to buy debt or stakes held by Lehman Brothers."

Baan Taling Ngam Resort was one of four assets Lehman Brothers (Thailand) purchased from listed developer Natural Park Plc's subsidiary Pacific Assets Plc in October 2005 in a transaction totalling 3.22 billion baht.

Lehman Brothers (Thailand) also owned two leasehold office buildings - One Pacific Place and Two Pacific Place on Sukhumvit Road - as well as Pantip Court Executive Residence on Sathon Road and Le Royal Meridien Phuket Yacht Club in Phuket.

Lehman's investment in Thailand totalled about US$1 billion, representing about 0.33% of worldwide assets of US$300 billion, said Mr Cornick.