by Calculated Risk on 11/06/2007 09:36:00 PM
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Egan Jones: Expect "Massive" Losses for Bond Insurers
From Bloomberg: MBIA, Ambac Losses Will Be `Massive,' Egan Jones Says
Bond insurers ... face ``massive losses'' over the next few quarters that could test their ability to raise new capital, Egan-Jones Ratings Co. said.Egan-Jones (not included in article) also expressed concern about possible major writedowns coming at Lehman and Bear Stearns. They commented that ResCap probably isn't sustainable without a capital injection. And for the homebuilders:
MBIA may lose $20.2 billion on guarantees and securities holdings, Sean Egan, managing director of Egan-Jones, said on a conference call today. ACA Capital may take losses of at least $10 billion; New York-based Ambac may reach $4.3 billion; mortgage insurers MGIC Investment Corp. and Radian Group Inc. may see losses of $7.25 billion and $7.2 billion, respectively, Egan said.
``There is little doubt that the credit and bond insurers face massive losses over the next few quarters and many will be capital challenged,'' Egan said.
"Watch for some failures over the next couple of quarters."UPDATE: From the WSJ: Morgan Stanley May Take Hit From Subprime
Two analysts are projecting the firm may take a fourth-quarter write-down of $3 billion to $6 billion. The estimates by analysts David Trone of Fox-Pitt, Kelton and Mike Mayo of Deutsche Bank AG ...
...
Another research firm, CreditSights, yesterday estimated potential fourth-quarter CDO hits at $9.4 billion for Merrill, $5.1 billion for Goldman, $3.9 billion for Lehman, $3.8 billion for Morgan Stanley and $3.2 billion for Bear Stearns.