Barclays values data highly.
The data centre assets of failed investment bank Lehman Brothers have proved to be the most valuable thing in the company based on Barclays purchase plan.
Barclays bought the business assets of the investment bank yesterday for just $250 million, but then spent another $1.45bn on Lehman’s two data centres and its corporate headquarters.
Robert E. Diamond, Jr., Barclays president, said, “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for Barclays. We welcome the opportunity to add Lehman’s people and capabilities to the Barclays team.”
The data centres cover 140,000 square feet of space in a 40-story tower in Jersey City, New Jersey. They were relocated there after the September 11th attacks to boost the security of the company’s data processing capabilities.
The high valuation of the data centres follows a similar pricing from when JPMorgan bought the assets of Bear Stearns. There much of the £270 million asset price was based on the company’s data centres in Brooklyn.