Lehman Brothers, the beleaguered US investment bank, has held secret talks to sell up to 50 per cent of its shares to South Korean or Chinese parties in the first week of August but failed to reach agreement with either, the Financial Times said.

The South Koreans and Chinese walked away after concluding that Lehman was asking too high a price, said New York-based people familiar with the potential buyers, according to the newspaper. It said Lehman declined to comment.

Meanwhile, it was widely reported this week that Lehman is trying to sell its asset management business.

The talks reflect the growing pressure on Dick Fuld, Lehman’s chief executive, to raise capital ahead of the mid-September earnings report, which, analysts said, could include more write-downs of $4 billion, bringing the total so far to $12 billion. Lehman shares have fallen nearly 85 per cent since early 2007 and its market value is now about $9.5 billion.

In addition to selling a stake in itself, Lehman is considering selling all or part of its holdings, including its troubled $40 billion commercial real estate portfolio and its asset management arm, which includes Neuberger Berman. Analysts said the asset management arm was the crown jewel that could be worth up to $10 billion.

In the first week of August, Lehman held parallel talks with the government-owned Korea Development Bank and China’s Citic Securities.

The South Koreans discussed a two-step process under which KDB would buy a 25 per cent stake directly from Lehman and another 25 per cent of the shares through a market tender.

The price under discussion was 50 per cent above Lehman’s book value. The two sides were said to have been close to a deal but last-minute disagreements torpedoed the talks.

Simultaneously, Lehman met top executives of Citic Securities but these talks never reached the level of detail of those with the South Koreans.