Pedestrians walk past a Lehman Brothers sign in New York
The bankruptcy estate of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. is preparing to make a $1.33 billion bid for part of apartment owner Archstone that it does not already hold, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. REUTERS

(REUTERS) - Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc said on Tuesday that 98.7 percent of creditors representing more than $405 billion in claims had voted to back its reorganization plan, an important step towards ending its bankruptcy.

Lehman, which filed the biggest bankruptcy ever in Spetember of 2008, said that 71,553 creditors with about $400 billion in claims against it had voted for the plan. Lehman had expected to receive creditor support after negotiating deals for creditor approval earlier this year.

In total, 75,322 creditors voted on the plan. The company is due to present the plan to Federal bankruptcy court in New York on December 6. Judge James Peck is expected to approve the plan, which will return about $65 billion to creditors.

Lehman, which made the disclosure in a legal filing, said that every class of creditors that voted on the plan overwhelmingly accepted it.

The case is in re Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York, No. 08-13555.

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