By Lee Su Shyan , ASSISTANT MONEY EDITOR

SELETAR Country Club has managed to claw back about $1.45 million from the $5 million black hole it landed in after its Lehman Brothers-linked investment products went off the fairway and landed deep in the rough.

The news will bring some cheer to the golf and social club's 4,000 members, who were shocked last December to hear of the huge potential losses they faced.

In an Oct 7 letter from general manager Eric Song, the club said it has received about $1.45 million from selling its investment in the notes.

That means that for every dollar that the club invested, it has retrieved about 29 cents.

The club said it received an offer in August from an unnamed bank keen to buy the notes. The offer was made through Standard Chartered Bank, which had sold the notes to the club.

Seletar was initially offered 16 cents for every dollar invested, but this was revised to 24 cents.

The club told members that it accepted the eventual offer of 29 cents after looking into other routes of recovering the money.

It had filed a creditor's claim with the liquidators of Lehman Brothers, which could have yielded some money once the business was wound up.

But 'in pursuing creditors' recovery in the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, there was no information available on the amount or the probable amount likely to be available for distribution to creditors', the club said.

There was also no secondary market for the notes, Mr Song added.

He said the financial institution's offer was not a firm one and could be revised, or even withdrawn, if market conditions changed.

Seletar decided that if it did not accept the offer by Sept 11, which was the deadline for creditors to file their claims, there were few other options open.

Mr Song did not respond to further queries from The Straits Times.

In the letter, however, the club said it 'was pleased to inform members that the the notes had been unwound'.

A member, who wanted to be known only as Mr Lee, said: 'I am quite happy to hear of the news as we need the money for the future, such as the renewal of the lease on the club.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times.