March 05, 2012

Kyle Bass is worried about France and UK

The UK and France are both in trouble, according to Kyle Bass of Hayman. Bass said when you looked at a particular country's banking system such as Iceland, it didn't take a genius to figure out it was going to blow up.
"Regulators weren't paying attention to the size of the host country's banking systems in relation to the sovereign's ability to maintain losses," he said.
According to Hayman Advisors' estimates, the UK is in "big trouble" and France is in "huge trouble" just as the Europe as a whole is.

Kyle Bass, an American hedge fund manager, is the Founder of Hayman Capital. He received extensive coverage in the financial press for profiting $590 million by short selling the sub-prime mortgage bond market, before that market crashed. In 2011, Bass initiated a huge position in Greek sovereign debt through CDSs. Media reports were that he could profit up to 650 times his investment should Greece default on its debt obligations.

Kyle Bass 2012

"If you think a 50% default in the private sector is what's going to save Greece, you're out of your mind."
"Does anyone know what Greece’s on-balance sheet financing cost is? Forget their market rates. What does it really cost them today for their weighted average cost of capital on balance sheet? Does anybody know? That’s interesting."
"We all know they’re in trouble, but no one looks at the numbers. They borrow at 4.4%. Their two-year money is at 100% and their 10-year money is at 27%. They borrow at 4 and they’re spending 16% on interest. For those of you who think that a 50% default in the private sector is what’s going to save Greece, you’re out of your mind. It is a full write down of what the Troika doesn’t own." So, it seems that this 70% haircut of the private sector holdings will not be enough, if Kyle Bass is right, and we will soon face the need of additional haircuts.

Kyle Bass, an American hedge fund manager, is the Founder of Hayman Capital. He received extensive coverage in the financial press for profiting $590 million by short selling the sub-prime mortgage bond market, before that market crashed. In 2011, Bass initiated a huge position in Greek sovereign debt through CDSs. Media reports were that he could profit up to 650 times his investment should Greece default on its debt obligations.