By Ralph Atkins in Frankfurt and Ed Hammond in London

Germany?s Bundesbank expects to recover almost all of the 8.5bn euros lost by eurozone central banks as a result of the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008, after deliberately dragging out the sale of collateral put up by the investment bank?s local subsidiary.

Joachim Nagel, Bundesbank board member, said on Thursday that the sales process would produce a ?very good result? for the eurozone and was expected to be completed later this year.

He was commenting after news emerged that Lone Star, the private equity group, was close to agreeing to buy a large chunk of complex European commercial property loan products that formed part of the collateral.

Obtaining a good price for the Lehman assets is important for the Bundesbank, which has sought to reassure Germans anxious about the increased risks being taken by the European Central Bank as it combat the eurozone?s crisis.

If it avoids taking a haircut on the original value of the collateral put up by Lehman, the Bundesbank will also buck the trend of lenders across Europe, which have offloaded billions of euros of discounted loans.

In the past three months, both Lloyds and RBS – the two UK government-controlled lenders – have sold commercial property loans at heavily discounted prices.

Societe Generale of France and Irish bank AIB are both in the process of selling down portfolios of property debts.

As well as expanding massively the provision of liquidity against collateral provided by banks, the ECB has also acquired more than ?200bn in mainly southern European government bonds.

Mr Nagel admitted that, with hindsight, measures taken to offset risks in 2008 had proved ?inadequate?.

Prior to its collapse, Lehman Brothers Bankhaus AG had borrowed ?8.5bn from the ?eurosystem,? comprising the ECB and eurozone national central banks. Usually, assets held as collateral are sold quickly if a bank collapses.

But the Bundesbank, acting on behalf of the eurosystem, decided against a quick ?fire sale? because of the perilous state then of global financial markets.

?It was worth waiting and allowing a healing process,? said Mr Nagel. Scepticism about the market for asset backed securities had since ?eased a little?, he said.

In 2008, the eurosystem made provisions of 5.7bn euros mainly to cover the Lehman losses.

By the end of 2010, those provisions had been reduced to 2.2bn euros and Mr Nagel said 2011?s figures, when published in coming months, would show a further reduction.

Mr Nagel expected the total recouped from disposing of the Lehman assets to be ?relatively close? to 8.5bn euros, although did not rule out a small loss.

The collateral provided by Lehman Brothers comprised 33 different securities of which 28 have been sold already.

Of the five remaining, the largest consists of the ?Excalibur? portfolio, which Lehman had securitised to raise liquidity from the ECB.

? The Financial Times Limited 2012