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phideaux
10-04-2011, 11:12 AM
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/sitelogos/logo_mol.gif (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/)


Tuesday, Oct 04 2011 3PM 16°C 6PM 15°C 5-Day Forecast (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/weather/index.html)

Meet the Texan investor who made millions from the credit crunch... and now he stands to make 65,000% profit if Europe goes down the drain


Kyle Bass founded hedge fund after saving $10million from Wall Street stint
Gambled against sub-prime mortgage bond market before it crashed

He has now started to bet against European countries including Greece

Set to increase money by 650 times from Greek bet if default happens
Keeps huge gold bars in his desk drawer and owns 20 million nickel coins


By Mark Duell (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=&authornamef=Mark+Duell)
It’s been a torrid three years for most people since the world economy began to go into meltdown. But not everyone has suffered.

Investor Kyle Bass has already made millions from the credit crunch and he is set to increase his money by almost 650 times from a Greek default.

He founded hedge fund Hayman Capital in Dallas, Texas, in 2006 in his late 30s after saving $10million from selling bonds for Wall Street firms.


http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/10/03/article-2044363-0E344CF000000578-526_634x420.jpg In the money: Kyle Bass founded hedge fund Hayman Capital in Dallas, Texas, in 2006 after saving $10million from selling bonds for Wall Street firms



He made millions gambling against the sub-prime mortgage bond market - and now he’s betting on the collapse of whole countries in Europe.

Mr Bass’s story so far has been documented in Michael Lewis’s new book 'Boomerang: The Meltdown Tour' - serialised in The Sunday Times.



Mr Lewis charts how Mr Bass was one of only 15 people who placed ‘enormous bets that vast tracts of American finance would go up in flames’.

Mr Bass believed as the sub-prime market collapsed that the financial crisis was being hidden by rich western governments.


http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/10/03/article-2044363-0E344D0000000578-826_634x508.jpg Clever man: Mr Bass made millions by gambling against sub-prime mortgage bond market - and now he's betting on the collapse of whole countries
He said these nations had taken on ‘dodgy securities worth trillions’, as worldwide debts doubled over just a few years to $195trillion.

'It may not be the end of the world. But a lot of people are going to lose a lot of money. Our goal is not to be one of them'

Kyle Bass

A big issue he identified was large banks being treated as ‘extensions of their governments, sure to be bailed out in a crisis’.

Mr Bass spoke to Harvard economics expert Kenneth Rogoff about sovereign balance sheets and finally realised the scale of the problem when he presented him with some research.

Professor Rogoff told Mr Bass: 'I can hardly believe it is this bad' after he had looked at their figures.

Mr Bass replied: 'If you don’t know this, who does?’ and thought: 'Holy s**t, who is paying attention?'




http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/10/03/article-2044363-0E1DC89800000578-945_634x472.jpg Falling prices: Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in Manhattan last week, as the Dow Jones suffered another bad month



‘The sub-prime mortgage crisis was more symptom than cause,’ Mr Lewis wrote. ‘Deeper social and economic problems that gave rise to it remained.’

'I thought: "Holy s**t, who is paying attention?"'
Kyle Bass on sovereign troubles



This made Mr Bass believe another bigger economic crisis was brewing - and he started to buy ‘credit default swaps’ on European countries, according to the book serialisation in The Sunday Times.


These let him bet against a bond’s price without owning it - like ‘default insurance on another person’s investments’.



He believes Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Switzerland, Italy and Spain are the countries least likely to be able to pay off their debts.


http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/10/03/article-2044363-0E3004A900000578-125_306x423.jpg
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/10/03/article-2044363-0E301A4200000578-548_306x423.jpg

New Book: Michael Lewis's Boomerang: The Meltdown Tour - which features Mr Bass, left - is out this week


He bought Greek default insurance for 11 basis points - meaning insuring $1m of bonds would cost $1,100 dollars a year.

'We’ve bought a lot of this stuff'

Kyle Bass on his gold collection



A Greek default would make it pay down its debt by around 70 per cent, meaning every $1,100 bet would net him an astonishing $700,000, Mr Bass said.

He said his mother tells him to put his money in 'guns and gold'.

Mr Lewis recalled him pulling out a huge gold brick from his desk drawer and saying: 'We’ve bought a lot of this stuff.'


Mr Bass, who lives in a 40,000 sq ft house, has also bought 20 million nickels for $1million. He said the metal inside each coin is worth 6.8 cents.

‘It may not be the end of the world,’ Mr Bass added. ‘But a lot of people are going to lose a lot of money. Our goal is not to be one of them.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2044363/Kyle-Bass-Meet-Texan-investor-millions-credit-crunch.html#

cpthnsolo
10-04-2011, 11:26 AM
Screw paying $100,000 to have lunch with Warren Buffet, I'd rather have lunch this with guy :cool::yes::slug::cool3:


He said his mother tells him to put his money in 'guns and gold'. ...has also bought 20 million nickels for $1million.

The guy has not only been correct for the last five years ("Mr Lewis charts how Mr Bass was one of only 15 people") but apparently his mother is wise beyond her years too ;). As for a million dollars worth of nickels the only thing I have to say about that is, "Yes Please!"

:s11:

earplugs
10-04-2011, 11:52 AM
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/sitelogos/logo_mol.gif (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/)



has also bought 20 million nickels for $1million. He said the metal inside each coin is worth 6.8 cents.



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2044363/Kyle-Bass-Meet-Texan-investor-millions-credit-crunch.html#[/SIZE]
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not anymore.

Argentsum
10-04-2011, 11:57 AM
I've listened to Kyle Bass for a while now. He's one of my favs.

The thing about Kyle is he tends to be wrong most of the time, but he invests
towards tail events. When he loses he loses small time.

When he wins...OMG.

cpthnsolo
10-04-2011, 02:22 PM
When he loses he loses small time. When he wins...OMG.

That's essentially my definition of a great trader. A great trader can get things wrong every day, but as long as they are 'wrong small' then it's no big deal. I listen to a stock show every day on my way home (Gary Kaltbaum's (http://garyk.com/) show) and he pounds the table on being wrong small nearly every day. Even though he's a stock guy I thoroughly enjoy listening to him as he spends at least 25% or more of each show screaming about the FED, the crooks in DC, and the bankers that "got away it". He openly mocks the SEC and government so I wonder how often his firm is audited ;)