Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s balance-sheet troubles threaten to harm the wider financial system unless the bank takes decisive action, the Wall Street Journal said in its ``Heard on the Street'' column. The company, which is likely to report a second-quarter loss this month, may be forced either to sell all or part of itself to a bigger financial firm or sell a large quantity of new shares, the newspaper said. If it were to go for the outright sale option, Lehman might, at the right price, attract interest from Blackstone Group LP, Citadel Investment Group LLC or J.C. Flowers & Co., the Journal said. The investment bank has seen its shares fall for two days in succession and they're now 22 percent below their book value, reflecting investors' concerns about the values put on its assets, many of which are backed by poor-quality real-estate loans, the newspaper said. While a plan to sell as much as $4 billion of new stock is being considered, the share-price decline makes it harder to do that, and as Lehman's market capitalization has fallen to about $17 billion, $4 billion is equivalent to almost a quarter of the company, the newspaper said. Investors might, in any case, want the bank to raise more than $4 billion, to cover any future losses from marking down asset values, the Journal added. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a9.3emrIBGLw&refer=home