Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Ambac Talking to "Credible Parties"

Even though they lost $3.26 billion this past quarter they might get an economic shot in the arm from some well-heeled investor.
The executive said Ambac is "evaluating strategic alternatives with a
number of potential partners," as it seeks to maintain its "AAA" credit
rating with two agencies and regain it after being downgraded by a third.
"We're talking to very credible parties and pools of capital," Callen
said, but declined to be more specific.

I think some rich dude (Warren Buffet, Saudi Wealth Fund, George Soros, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal?) could toss them a few billion to tide them over (or buy them outright for $1.72 billion) so they don't default on that $550 billion in debt and $700 billion in munis and tank the market. This news could be a solid floor that would be put in for a bond insurer that is down 92 percent from its 12-month high of $96.10 which it was trading at last May.

There is nothing like buying a stock at $7.97 a share and just waiting for it to go back up once they clear all of that bad debt off of their books. That is assuming that they don't go bankrupt of course. I mean this industry boasts some serious margins and the Saudis or Buffet can jump in and control this industry for a song. This just might be the property that you need to buy when there is "blood on the streets."

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