PWC fees from Lehman case: £154m
PwC has billed a total of £154m for its work winding down the failed bank's European affairs according to the administrator's one year progress report.
Source: insolvencynews.com
To put that sum into context, PwC's income from this one case is greater than the entire combined insolvency turnovers of Grant Thornton (£57m), BDO Stoy Hayward (£38m), Tenon (£31m) and Vantis (£19m) for years ending around 2007/2008.
Michael Jervis, Tony Lomas, Steven Pearson and Dan Schwarzmann were appointed in September 2008.
Around 440 Lehmans staff are still retained to deal with the winding-up process, at an average annual cost to the estate of £277,000 each.
The report revealed that hourly rates for PwC staff have fallen from £329 in March to £302, reflecting the delegation of work to less senior PwC staff.
The administrators said they had so far gained control of £24.4bn of securities and cash and returned £8.1bn to clients. Lawyers, led by firm Linklaters, have accrued legal costs of £68m in the year since the collapse.
Steven Pearson, joint administrator and partner at PwC, said: "I am pleased to report that very significant progress has been made in the 12 months of this case - we have dealt with over $40bn of assets already and are now focusing effort on agreeing claims.
"Our actions have yielded significant recoveries which in due course will be paid to creditors. There are still some major challenges to address, which we will put before the UK court."
The process is expected to take over a decade, and the administrators have already extended their appointment to November 2010.