NEW YORK — Barclays Plc, the U.K.'s third-biggest bank, will acquire the North American investment-banking business of bankrupt Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. for $1.75 billion, two days after abandoning plans to buy the entire firm.

Barclays is paying $250 million in cash for the Lehman businesses and $1.5 billion for the securities firm's New York headquarters and two data centers, the London-based bank said in a statement on its Web site yesterday. The operations employ about 10,000 people.

Lehman is selling off pieces of itself that weren't included Monday when the holding company filed the biggest Chapter 11 bankruptcy in history. Barclays President Robert Diamond said last month he wants the bank to take market share from Wall Street firms weakened by the credit crunch and break into the "top tier" of U.S. securities firms.

The purchase includes the equities and fixed-income sales, trading and research businesses, commodities and foreign exchange, merger advisory and prime brokerage units, Barclays said. The deals require approval from the bankruptcy court.

Meanwhile, Lehman executives continue to negotiate a potential sale of its prized investment management division, which includes money manager Neuberger Berman. The division was once valued by as much as $10 billion by Wall Street analysts, but now could fetch much less.

A person familiar with the negotiations, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Lehman was focusing on trying to sell the business to private-equity firms. The sale is expected to happen in a matter of days, the person said.

Barclays said it will acquire Lehman's North American banking operations, which include fixed income and equities sales, trading and research and investment banking business. The deal throws a lifeline to about 10,000 employees working in the divisions.

Barclays and Lehman reached the agreement hours after Lehman's first bankruptcy hearing at the U.S. bankruptcy court in Manhattan.

JPMorgan advanced Lehman $87 billion when the market opened Monday, acting in part on a request by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The New York Fed later repaid JPMorgan that amount. Yesterday, JPMorgan advanced another $51 billion.

Judge James Peck approved a motion that JPMorgan Chase & Co. will remain Lehman's clearing house through the bankruptcy proceedings. The issue arose when JPMorgan made the advances to Lehman to allow it to keep trading and "avoid a disruption of the financial markets," according to court filings.

Also yesterday, the House Oversight and Government Reform committee said it would hold a hearing Sept. 25 on the "regulatory mistakes and financial excesses" that led to Lehman's bankruptcy filing. It asked Lehman CEP Richard Fuld to testify before the committee.