PricewaterhouseCoopers has pulled off the sale of a major part of Lehman Brothers European and Middle Eastern businesses to Asia-based investment bank Nomura.

Joint administrator Dan Schwarzmann said: 'This sale, which is conditional on a number of issues, means the continuing employment of around 2,500 Lehman’s staff, a vast number of whom have been working with us to get this unprecedented deal done.'

The deal includes the investment banking and equities businesses of the Lehman Brothers offices in the UK, the Netherlands, Qatar, Dubai, Kuwait, Spain, Italy, Germany and Sweden.

Joint administrator Mike Jervis, added: 'Clearly we are very pleased with this outcome which secures the future of so many staff but there is still a great deal of work to be done on this very complex administration. The interests of creditors and clients is of paramount importance. Our priority remains the orderly wind down of the business and we will be working with many remaining staff as we do this.'