The management teams in Lehman Brothers’ private equity division, which was excluded from the $2.2bn (€3.1bn) sale of its Neuberger investment management unit to Bain Capital and Hellman & Friedman last month, are in talks with the collapsed bank’s administrators over acquiring the business.

The teams running Lehman Brothers Private Equity, which includes the bank’s private equity direct investment business, as well as the management of its private equity real estate arm and mezzanine team, began the talks with PricewaterhouseCoopers last month, according to a source close to the teams.