http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=^N225&t=my&l=on&z=m&q=c&c= It appears Nikkei went way above Leeson's potential breakeven. Anyone know what happened after that? And why the hell did Ing assume the liabilities?
well ing paid just 1quid for the ashes of barings, quite a bargain even considerin' debts and liabilities, dont ya think?
He was long & wrong the Nikkei AND also had a huge short position in Japanese bonds and euro-yen(?) that also blew up in his face at the same time. If the trade had gone his way, he'd have become a hero before eventually blowing out.
In bankruptcy the debt assumed by ING was probably pennies on the dollar for all of Barings business. They were pretty big in Asia and England at the time and ING got all of that for about $1 and minor debt.
You could ask Nick himself, he posts on the Forum here under the username: NickBarings He seems quite friendly. I wrote and asked him and he says that he's the real Nick.
Yeah. Take a look at the chart too, you'll see that the Nikkei gained to 20000 after March 1995, when he supposedly went broke.(19000 was his breakeven I think.)