PUBLIC LECTURE: UWA Business School & NWQ Capital Management - Public Lecture with Professor Edward Altman

Professor Altman explores the fascinating recent debacle in global credit markets by analysing… • How the world built up the credit bubble which began to burst in June 2007? • What has happened between that date and today? • The outlook on credit markets, corporate defaults and bankruptcies, recoveries on defaults • The size and dynamics of the distressed debt asset market, estimated to be $1trillion in the US today

Professor Altman is an advisor to several hedge funds in the high-yield and distressed debt classes and a frequent speaker to investment and corporate professionals. His views on the markets are also widely sort by the press.

"For some time now, I have been concerned about the contagion between the credit markets and the real economy. Indeed, I believe we are already in, or very close to being in, a real economy recession in the US, and I am convinced that the downturn is credit market motivated. In fact, it would not surprise me if one concludes that the last two recessions of 1991 and 2001 were also motivated by credit events. One "shoe" that has not fallen, however, is the increase in corporate bond and loan defaults. Most observers, including myself, now believe that increased defaults, perhaps sizeable, are inevitable. Indeed, in early 2008, that is exactly what has taken place. The question now is how severe will be this increase, which will partially depend on how the real economy, particularly in the US and Europe, will fare. Another "shoe" deals with the LBO market. With more than 650 of these highly leveraged transactions in the last four years, a big question is how they will hold-up in a changed credit environment".

Edward Altman is the Max L Heine Professor of Finance at the Stern School of Business, New York University. He is the Director of Research in Credit and Debt Markets at the NYU Salomon Center for the Study of Financial Institutions. Professor Altman has an international reputation as an expert on corporate bankruptcy, high yield bonds, distressed debt and credit risk analysis. His primary areas of research include bankruptcy analysis and prediction, credit and lending policies, risk management and regulation in banking, corporate finance and capital markets. He has been a consultant to several government agencies, major financial and accounting institutions and industrial companies.