Lehman Brothers has advised Fortis, the Dutch-Belgian financial services group, on the disposal of Seguros Bilbao, its Spanish subsidiary. It is the first time the bank has advised Fortis.

Fortis has agreed to sell Seguros Bilbao to Grupo Catalana Occidente, the Spanish insurer, for €255m ($304m) and is using Lehman as sole financial adviser. The mandate is a bonus for Lehman's financial institutions team, which has known Fortis's management for a long time but has never worked for the company, according to a bank spokeswoman.