Kyle Bass just became very rich!

Millard

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Kyle Bass just became very rich!

The "yes" vote by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association triggers roughly $3.2 billion in CDS, which are insurance policies that pay out if a bond issuer defaults. That amount is actually much smaller than many had feared.

News Headlines

Almost half a billion of that goes to Bass:

His Greek debt CDS would net him $700,000 on $1,100 if Greece defaultsin short, he stands to multiply his investment by 650.

Read more: The John Paulson Of Michael Lewis' New Book Is Kyle Bass - Business Insider
 
I've been following this for a while.

What, exactly, do they mean by 'payout'?

The financial world related to sovereign debt is slicker than snot on a doorknob.

Maybe 'payout' really means 'partial payout'?
 
I've been following this for a while.

What, exactly, do they mean by 'payout'?

The financial world related to sovereign debt is slicker than snot on a doorknob.

Maybe 'payout' really means 'partial payout'?

I think its all or none payout. The question is whether a "credit event" occurred to trigger the payout. The definitions of an actionable credit event are murky for sure with Greek sovereign debt. But ISDA says 'yes'. Can it be challenged? I don't know.
 
With Europe basically flat-ass broke it's hard to believe they will ever pay anyone anything, especially if its a number followed by 9 zeros.

Here's a good interview with Kyle and just might be the source of that 1,000 to 700,000 ratio mentioned in the article. I have yet to see any official estimate of how much money he made and I dont think there ever will be one. If he was starting to sell his position that tells me even he began to doubt there would ever be a payday.

When you bet that someone/thing will go tits-up and you win, where is the payoff money supposed to come from??

Above Average Odds Investing ? Blog Archive ? Kyle Bass on BBC Hardtalk (Full Interview)
 
Last edited:
An update

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/16/markets-cds-auction-idUSL5E8EF7MZ20120316
 
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