Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc said on Tuesday it has won overwhelming support for its reorganization plan, including from creditors with $400 billion of claims, an important step toward ending its record bankruptcy.

The company said creditors asserting more than $405 billion of claims voted on the plan, and that 71,553 creditors representing 98.7 percent of this amount voted in favor.

A total of 75,322 creditors voted on the plan, and every creditor class that voted on the plan overwhelmingly accepted it, Lehman said in a court filing.

Lehman had expected to receive creditor support after negotiating deals for creditor approval earlier this year. It said liquidators for 87 foreign affiliates also support the Chapter 11 plan.

It has taken Herculean effort by many people to reach this point, Chief Executive Bryan Marsal said in a statement.

Lehman is due to present its plan to U.S. Bankruptcy Judge James Peck in Manhattan on December 6.

Peck is expected to approve the plan, which would return about $65 billion to creditors starting early next year.

Lehman reported $639 billion of assets when it filed for protection from creditors on September 15, 2008, in the largest U.S. bankruptcy. The filing was a major trigger of that year's global financial crisis. Lehman was once the fourth-largest U.S. investment bank.

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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