Dow Jones Newswires | A judge Wednesday ordered the public disclosure of bidding details from
an auction of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s assets in 2008, overruling
opposition from CME Group Inc.

The ruling by Judge James Peck of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan
dealt a blow to CME, which conducted the auction for derivatives
positions held by Lehman and fought to keep the bid details secret.

CME said at Wednesday’s hearing that it didn’t oppose the release of the identities of the bidders but didn’t want each of their specific bids disclosed in a report released last month about Lehman’s collapse.

The author of the report, a court-appointed examiner who investigated Lehman’s failure, said the bidders and their bids should be made public. The details are the only part of the examiner’s report that have been redacted.

Peck ordered the immediate release of the information. He said CME’s arguments that disclosure could harm future auctions “are so speculative as to be discounted close to zero.”