Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Jeremy Isaacs, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s former European and Asian chief, will start his own investment firm with his ex-colleague Roger Nagioff.

The 44 year-old started JRJ Investments Ltd. last month, according to a filing at the U.K.’s Companies House. Nagioff, who left as head of Lehman’s fixed income division in February, is listed as the firm’s only other director. Isaacs declined to comment on his plans today.

Isaacs announced his decision to step down as head of Lehman’s international operations a week before the firm filed for bankruptcy in September. He’s one of a clutch of former Lehman bankers that are starting their own firms amid the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression. Michael Tory, Lehman’s former head of U.K. investment banking, started Quattro Partner LLP, an advisory firm, in October.

“There’s a group of tier 1 bankers setting up vehicles where they see value in companies and turning them around,” said Jason Kennedy, chief executive officer of Kennedy Associates, a London-based recruitment firm whose clients include investment banks. “But you have to find them and it’s a space everyone is piling into right now.”

Isaacs, a former derivatives trader at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., joined Lehman in 1996 as co-head of European equities and head of global equity derivatives based in London. He was named CEO of Lehman’s European operations in 2000 at the age of 35. He has also worked as a trader at Smith New Court, the British securities firm Merrill Lynch acquired in 1995, and Kleinwort Benson, which became part of Dresdner Bank AG.

Nagioff, who joined Lehman in 1997, said in February he would leave the bank for personal reasons. He said at the time he wanted to raise capital for a “family sized” money management firm on his return to work.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jacqueline Simmons in Paris at to jackiem@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: December 8, 2008 07:37 EST