Lehman, Tribune, Fisher Island, Quigley, AAI: Bankruptcy

(This report contains items about companies both in bankruptcy and not in bankruptcy. Adds Fisher Island and Quigley in Updates, Aryx in Filing Possible and Shearer’s in Downgrade.)

March 23 (Bloomberg) -- The business of trading claims against bankrupt companies will virtually vanish if Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. confirms a Chapter 11 plan this year.

Lehman and its brokerage unit were responsible for almost $38.7 billion in traded claims during the past year, according to data compiled from court records by SecondMarket Inc. The companies in second and third places each had traded claims amounting to 2 percent of Lehman’s total.

Those companies, old General Motors Corp. and Mesa Air Group Inc., had claim trades of less than $800 million apiece in the period, according to New York-based SecondMarket, which describes itself as the largest secondary market for illiquid assets.