-Caveat Lector- from: http://www.aci.net/kalliste/ <A HREF="http://www.aci.net/kalliste/">The Home Page of J. Orlin Grabbe</A> ----- Fin-de-Siecle Corzine Seeks Buyout of Long-Term Capital Management "Do you take this whore to be your lawfully purchased bride?" Jon Corzine, current co-chairman of Goldman Sachs, has linked up with John Meriwether and other original partners of Long-Term Capital Management to explore ways of buying out the financial services consortium controlling the hedge fund. In recent weeks Mr Corzine, Mr Meriwether and the partners have been approaching potential backers about raising funds for a buy-out of LTCM, whose near bankruptcy brought turmoil to the world's equity and bond markets last year. The fund raising moves are said to be at an early stage but follow a strong improvement in LTCM's investment performance since the $3.625bn bail-out organised by a Wall Street consortium last October. Mr Corzine, who played a key role in organising the bail-out, is due to leave Goldman once it has become a publicly quoted company this year. Mr Corzine declined to comment, as did a spokesman for LTCM's original partners. No spokesman for the consortium could be reached for comment. Mr Corzine and the LTCM partners are thought to be considering setting up a new organisation to raise the money to buy out the consortium. "They are quietly going around asking a few people their reaction to it," said one individual approached. The new organisation would be run jointly by Mr Meriwether and Mr Corzine. LTCM specialises in so-called convergence investing, and the new organisation is likely to continue with that style of investing. Before he became the senior partner of Goldman Mr Corzine ran the firm's fixed income business. Members of the consortium are said to have been told about the fund raising efforts through a letter from Goldman making clear that Mr Corzine is acting in a personal capacity. Mr Corzine is also known to be considering running for the US Senate and has been approached by Democratic leaders in New Jersey, where he lives. They want him to replace Sen Frank Lautenberg, who is due to retire. Mr Corzine lost out in a power struggle at Goldman this year, moving aside to enable Hank Paulson to become the bank's sole chairman. Last month LTCM disclosed that it had halved its risk and balance sheet exposure and boosted returns since being rescued. At the time the consortium declined to give specific details about the fund's total continuing exposure or what types of trades they had carried out to reduce its risk and balance sheet positions. It also declined to give the current net asset value. The Financial Times, April 20, 1999 World Finance S&P: Credit Quality is Deteriorating Worldwide Duh. A growing number of the world's financial systems are weakening in the face of excessive credit growth and falling asset prices, according to an analysis by credit rating agency Standard & Poor's. Credit quality is deteriorating in 24 of the 61 countries monitored regularly by S&P, an increase of almost a third since its last report on financial system stress in October. Financial system strength is a key concern of international policymakers in the wake of the crises in Asia, Russia and Latin America over the last two years. Brazil, Colombia, Ireland, Latvia, Norway, Oman, Romania, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates have all been added to the list of weakening financial systems since last autumn. But Chile has been taken off the list because of a modest decline in domestic credit relative to gross domestic product. The report said that visible signs of weakness were now evident in nine countries: China, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Romania and the Slovak Republic. Other apparently robust systems are also vulnerable, including Brazil, Greece, Turkey and the US. "Some of these systems' fundamentals are so poor that half of their assets may become problematic, for others decline will be relatively mild," the report said. Most of the financial systems identified by S&P are under pressure because of unsustainable aggregate credit growth or are vulnerable because of a marked shift in their external position. Others show signs of worsening fundamentals or eroding franchise value because the government is crowding out private credit. S&P looks at a number of leading indicators of financial stress, focusing on credit growth, corporate and household indebtedness, asset-price inflation and external funding of financial institutions. But the indicators do not reflect other factors that can prompt a liquidity crisis, including rigid exchange rate regimes, high inflation, a history of confiscatory action on bank deposits or reliance on flows of capital that are sensitive to shifts in confidence. Many countries have seen credit rise relative to the size of their economy over recent years. In the US, credit as a share of GDP has risen from 94.7 per cent in 1993 to 129.7 per cent in 1998, while in Ireland the ratio has risen from 70.6 per cent to 102.7 per cent over the same period. But these totals are modest in comparison with Thailand and Malaysia, where credit stands at about 160 per cent of GDP. The Financial Times, April 20, 1999 A Bang for His Buck Is Soros Helping Arm the KLA? Open Society Foundation buying terrorist bullets? BELGRADE, Apr. 19, 1999 -- (Reuters) Yugoslav television said on Saturday the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Albania, Slovenia and even George Soros were helping Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) rebels in their campaign against Belgrade. A report by state television said it had uncovered evidence of foreign help for the KLA in a burnt out "terrorist training camp" near the village of Gornje Obrilje in Kosovo. "Even the verification mission of the OSCE knew and were visiting them (the KLA) almost on a daily basis giving them information about our forces," the report said. Yugoslavia is hostile to the OSCE, which has been monitoring the ethnic Albanian refugee crisis. Russia has suggested a compromise peace deal in which the OSCE would oversee peacekeeping forces in Kosovo in the event of a ceasefire. The television report also said passports found at the camp belonging to Albanian and Slovenian citizens were evidence of secret service help for the KLA from both countries. The West is deeply concerned that Yugoslavia may try to widen the Kosovo conflict to nearby countries, especially Albania which has offered NATO the use of its territory to halt ethnic cleansing by Yugoslav forces in Kosovo. Slovenia seceded from the Yugoslav federation in a relatively peaceful divorce in 1991 and has largely ceased to be a matter of concern to Belgrade. The television report even suggested that Hungarian born billionaire George Soros's Open Society Foundation was supplying the rebels with military aid. "We also found a bag with the sign of the so called Open Society Foundation, belonging to George Soros, also showing his involvement. The Open Society's present to the terrorist group is ammunition," it said. Central Europe Today, April 19, 1999 ----- Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. Em Hotep, Peace Be, Omnia Bona Bonis, All My Relations. Adieu, Adios, Aloha. Amen. Roads End Kris DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
