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Most of the assets were raised through Lehman's various UK sub-prime lending arms, such as Southern Pacific Mortgages (SPML), Southern Pacific Personal Loans (SPPL), London Mortgage Company (LMC), London Personal Loans (LPL) and Preferred Mortgages.

These divisions offered a range of mortgages and secured loans to customers in the near prime bracket, right through to those with "heavy" and "unlimited adverse" profiles.

Today (11 September), Lehman was being coy about the content of the assets that were being discussed for transfer to BlackRock.

Ruth Lavelle, press spokesperson for Lehman Brothers, said no further details would be release on the content of the assets.

She explained: "We are not breaking down in detail what the portfolio is that we are selling to BlackRock. That is between BlackRock and our guys here; to be completed in early Q4."

Lavelle maintained that the business has tried to be "as transparent as possible" throughout its disclosure to the wider financial services market about these assets.

The move to sell these assets comes after Lehman's brought forward its results announcement in the US yesterday (10 September) after speculation that it was struggling to raise capital.

The business said it was taking action to significantly reduce its exposure to "residential mortgages" and "commercial real estate".