25,000 Drexel Accounts to Go to Shearson : Securities: Shearson reportedly will pay nothing for the accounts, which have more than $4 billion in assets.

Shearson Lehman Hutton Inc. said Monday that it would take over 25,000 brokerage accounts with more than $4 billion in assets from Drexel Burnham Lambert, the investment firm in bankruptcy protection and now liquidating itself.

Under the agreement, Shearson will pay nothing for the accounts. Drexel will pay Shearson $10 million to cover the costs of transferring the accounts and any unforeseen liabilities, according to a source familiar with the deal.

Drexel, which collapsed last week when its parent company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, declined comment.

Shearson technicians worked through the weekend to prepare a “tape-to-tape” conversion that will allow Shearson brokers to call up former Drexel accounts on their computer screens by Wednesday.

Shearson is mostly acquiring retail accounts left out when Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Co. acquired most of Drexel’s retail business last year. Among the accounts Shearson is getting are more than 5,000 held by former Drexel employees.

Smith Barney has said it still expects to acquire up to 4,000 former Drexel accounts by recruiting former Drexel stock brokers, who presumably will bring their accounts with them. Investors involved in the transfer are under no obligation to retain their accounts at Shearson.

Meanwhile, three British units of Drexel Burnham Lambert said they were dismissing 210 employees as part of an “orderly wind-down” of operations.

Administrators of the three British units, Drexel Burnham Lambert Holdings, Drexel Burnham Lambert Ltd. and Drexel Burnham Lambert Securities, said they would keep 84 employees to complete the firms’ affairs.

Drexel’s arm in Singapore said it had liquidated all its positions on the Singapore International Monetary Exchange and was scheduled to close by the end of this week.