https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/ltcm-near-failure

Sept 1998

"On September 23, 1998, a group of fourteen banks and brokerage firms invested $3.6 billion in Long-Term Capital Management L.P. (LTCM) to prevent the firm’s imminent collapse. The capital infusion forestalled a fire sale of LTCM assets into already turbulent markets and instead allowed for an orderly liquidation of the hedge fund’s holdings. While the Federal Reserve brought the market participants together and oversaw the refinancing, it did not put its own funds at risk. Rather, creditors of LTCM—who had the most to lose from its bankruptcy—arranged and financed the rescue. The effort thereby addressed the near-term concerns of a possible fire sale of LTCM assets, while mitigating long-term moral hazard concerns that might have arisen from the use of public funds.

Led by a team of market experts including two Nobel laureates, LTCM was a hedge fund well known for using sophisticated mathematical models to make impressive profits. Founded by former Salomon Brothers Vice Chairman John Meriwether in February 1994, LTCM exploited temporary price differences between similar types of securities. Its “market-neutral” design meant it expected to make profits regardless of whether prices were heading up or down. LTCM generated above-normal returns of 20 percent in 1994, 43 percent in 1995, 41 percent in 1996, and 17 percent in 1997 (Siconolfi 1998)."