Aug. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., the fourth-biggest U.S. securities firm by capital, won approval from Chinese regulators to invest up to $75 million in the nation's yuan-denominated shares and bonds.

The company received the quota from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange after gaining approval from the securities regulator last month to join China's qualified foreign institutional investor program, known as QFII, which opened yuan markets to overseas investors for the first time last year.

Under China's market-opening program, approved overseas investors with at least $10 billion in assets and $50 million to spend may buy local-currency Class A shares, convertible bonds and mutual funds. Class A shares trade on exchanges in the cities of Shanghai and Shenzhen.

Eighteen companies, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank AG and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., have received approval to invest in yuan markets under the QFII program. So far 15 companies have received investment quotas, allowing them to invest a combined $1.95 billion.

Lehman's investment quota was granted to its Lehman Brothers International (Europe) unit.

To contact the reporter on this story: Janet Ong in Shanghai (86) at jong3@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: August 19, 2004 23:15 EDT