Potential Lehman suitors are understandably skittish as it has become evident that the government is not willing to backstop the debt in the same way that they did to get the Bear Stearns transaction done.
If I'm a potential buyer I'd naturally want every penny and every guarantee that I could get from Uncle Sam. Personally I think the Feds are doing the right thing by staying aside. The meltdown of Bear was sudden and would have had a major ripple effect throughout the system. Lehman had plenty of time to get a deal done but sat around waiting for a deal on their terms, when the common stock was telling you that things were very bad.
That equity investors today are negatively reacting to the same is another story.
The last men standing in this game are going to see material market share gains.
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