When Lehman Brothers went into administration on 15 September 2008, there were 5,500 employees at the bank in Europe. Of these, 2,400 were transferred to Nomura as the Japanese bank acquired its European equities business. 

Thousands more were laid off, but 440 employees were handed a lifeline — winding down Lehman as administrators looked to recover billions of dollars. The process took a little over 17 years to conclude.