Several companies reliant on four US hedge funds face collapse because the funds cannot access shares and loans held at the London arm of Lehman Brothers, the collapsed bank.

The four funds – whose names were kept secret in a High Court ruling this week – claimed that they were likely to close in mid-December if they failed to get access to information about their assets frozen at Lehman. The funds made an unsuccessful effort to force the administrators of Lehman, four PwC partners, to give them details of their assets and how much they owe to ­Lehman.