Reason number 872 why fund industry insiders prefer the Wall Street Journal to the New York Times: At least the Fund Track column does not confuse them with the sell side. That confusion between buy side and sell side was apparent in a Monday Deal Book item about why Lehman Brothers is not seeing a line of buyers for Neuberger Berman:

While we’re on the subject of Lehman, there’s a good reason bidders are balking at buying the firm’s Neuberger Berman money management unit.

Any bidder has to pay for Neuberger twice. “You’ve got to pay Lehman, and then you’ve got to pay again to keep the brokers from leaving,” said one banker who has been poking around Lehman on behalf of a bidder.

Unlike some rival asset managers, like BlackRock, for example, which has institutionalized its business, Neuberger Berman is still run as dozens of fiefs. If the buyer doesn’t pay up to keep Neuberger’s talent, the employees — and their clients’ money — will walk out the door.

Last we checked, it was Lehman that employed the brokers and Neuberger that employed the portfolio managers and stock analysts. Of course, the essence of the quote was dead on -- which is why The MFWire believes it must have been the reporter who made a transcription error and not the anonymous banker. Any buyer will have to pay twice: one check will be made out to Lehman and the second to the portfolio teams to keep them from walking and hanging out their own shingles down the street. Ironically for the Deal Book, it is even easier for asset managers to walk than brokers, just ask the folks at Mellon about their purchase of the Boston Company a generation ago.

In an unrelated note: As embarrassing as it is, the Deal Book error is nothing like one made last week at the Washington Post which wrote that: "Fannie Mae has withdrawn from the market for all-day loans, which are considered risky because they require less documentation than traditional prime loans." [emphasis added]

We would like an "all-day loan" too since we get paid tomorrow morning. Where does one apply? Oh, you said "Alt-A loan." Never mind. 

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