Will Barclays pick up more businesses? Barclays received approval from a U.S. bankruptcy court to proceed with a deal for Lehman’s U.S. business for $1.75BN (oddly, Chelsea Clinton was at the hearing). Up to 12,000 employees may be able to keep their jobs.

A further hearing relating to the sale is scheduled for Friday. The sale would include Lehman’s North American capital markets business, its midtown HQ and two data centers in New Jersey. The deal has a breakup fee of $100MM.

Meanwhile, Lehman employees abroad may have reason for hope — in particular, UK and European staff.

Barclays’ CEO John Varley said in a conference call that the bank has the opportunity to purchase additional businesses. Said Varley: “it’s an opportunity that we’re looking at quickly and seriously, to see what else might fit with the businesses we’re developing around the world,” reported Reuters.

Reported Reuters, citing Bob Diamond, head of Barclays Capital: “It would most typically be around those areas where Lehman has strong positions and BarCap has a weak one, so mostly around equities and the equity capital markets business. [We] wouldn’t want to miss the opportunity to add some of the talent from the UK and Europe to that (U.S.) team.”

Here’s a question for Barclays: will it pay Lehman’s bonuses?