September 19th, 2008, 12:24 pm
Re: LTCM 1998Although LTCMs leverage ratio eventually reached 100:1, its leverage before the crisis was about 25:1, with about $4.7 billion in capital and $125 billion in debt. In their post-bailout presentations, LTCM partners compared the firms targeted 25:1 leverage during that period to the 34:1 leverage common at securities firms and the 24:1 leverage common at money-center banks. According to another LTCM explanation, the firm was trying to earn 1 percent on assets, leveraged 25 times, which would result in a 25 percent return.
As one source put it: "LTCM became the victim of a classic squeeze, as many Wall Street firms got out in front of LTCMs positions...including A.I.G., which was trying to weaken LTCMs positions so it could buy its portfolio on the cheap."Financial journalists are out straight these days, so hedge funds news in the mainstream media may come later, if at all.But you could have a look here:HedgeFund.net