Lehman Bros. Holdings Inc. is frantically searching for a buyer as confidence that the U.S. investment bank would emerge from the financial crisis as an independent franchise vanished, the Associated Press reported. According to bankers and industry executives close to the situation, Lehman executives have been working hard in the past 24 hours to find a buyer for part or all of the company.

Lehman announced Wednesday that it lost $3.9 billion in the fiscal third quarter ended Aug. 31, bringing its total loss to $7 billion for the last two quarters, primarily because of risky investments such as mortgage securities. It also announced that it planned to sell a majority stake in its investment management division, slash its dividend and possibly sell the entire company.

The Treasury Department and Federal Reserve have been working with Lehman to resolve the situation, but the government is not expected to use government money, unlike the billions of dollars it risked to facilitate the sale of Bear Stearns in March and rescue Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac this week.

Lehman tried for several months to find an investor to add fresh capital into the firm and tried to calm investors on Wednesday by offering a 55 percent stake in its investment management business and spin off its commercial real estate holdings into a publicly traded company.

Bank of America Corp., Japan’s Nomura Securities, France’s BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank AG and Britain’s Barclay’s Plc have been named as potential buyers this week. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., also discussed as a potential buyer, is not interested, according to an industry official.