Marc Lasry on Distressed Debt and Distressed Markets (SPY, EWG)

Chairman and CEO of Avenue Capital Group, Marc Lasry was just interviewed by David Faber of CNBC. The Co-Founder of Avenue Capital Group, a hedge fund worth more than $20 billion, had this to say about global credit markets, “There’s been a lot less liquidity…which is a positive for us because you can buy bank debt and bonds for much lower prices.” When asked about the word of the day “de-risking,” he was quick to point out that they are not really selling anything, instead “We are trying to buy debt of solid companies and not so much de-risking.” When asked about the recent turmoil in Europe, he said “We’ve been nervous that markets have less fundamental risk all of a sudden and more government risk,” adding that recently, “Everybody is trying to understand what Germany

is saying,” which is not something that markets really care about under normal circumstances. “What is happen on a global basis is effecting what we’re doing on a local basis which shouldn’t be the case,” commented Mr. Lasry. When asked about the state of the U.S. equity markets

he said that “as people get more nervous, you’re not going to see people taking as much risk as they were just a few weeks ago.” Marc Lasry is a self-made billionaire with a net-worth of over $1.1 billion.