经济学人下载:美国债券保险公司(2)

Moreover, as the public-finance market shrank it also convulsed.
此外，随着公共财政市场的萎缩，它也出现了动荡。

Insurers have suffered bigger-than-expected losses on muni defaults, from Detroit to Puerto Rico.
从底特律到波多黎各，保险公司在市政债券违约上遭受的损失超过预期。

The latter's bankruptcy in 2017, designed to help it restructure $120bn of debt and pension obligations, has hit them particularly hard.
后者在2017年破产，这对它们的打击尤为严重，破产本是为了帮助它重组1200亿美元的债务和养老金义务。

The $170m net loss under US GAAP made by MBIA in the latest quarter was largely down to Puerto Rico.
根据美国公认会计准则，MBIA最新季度净亏损1.7亿美元，其主要来自波多黎各。

The $720m MBIA is seeking from Citigroup, UBS and seven other banks matches the value of claims it has paid out on Puerto Rican contracts.
MBIA向花旗集团、瑞银和其它7家银行寻求的7.2亿美元赔款，与该公司对波多黎各合同的索赔金额相当。

It accuses them of creating "a financial abyss of historic proportions" by urging Puerto Rico to issue "unsustainable" debt,
它指责它们敦促波多黎各发行“不可持续”债务并作出虚假或误导性的披露，以供保险人信赖。

and making false or misleading disclosures on which the insurer relied.
因此造成了“历史性的金融深渊”，

The banks' defence is likely to focus on the fact that bond insurers are hardly unsophisticated;
银行的辩护很可能集中在债券保险公司并不单纯这一事实上；

insurers have long advertised their credit-surveillance skills.
债券保险公司一直在广告中宣传它们的信用追踪技能。

All of which suggests that post-crisis bond insurance is not for the faint-hearted.
所有这些都表明危机后的债券保险并不适合胆小的人。

Last year David Einhorn became the latest in a long line of hedge funders to publicly short a bond insurer,
去年David Einhorn成为了公开做空一家债券保险公司的对冲基金投资人中的最新一员

calling Assured Guaranty "a melting ice cube".
他称Assured Guaranty是“一个正在融化的冰块”。

The firm poohpoohed the critique, and many clearly think it has navigated the morass well:
该公司对这一批评不屑一顾，许多人显然认为，它已经很好地渡过了困境：

its share price is 50% above its pre-crisis peak (and 23% higher than when Mr Einhorn weighed in); MBIA's is down by 88%.
它的股价比危机前的峰值高出50%（比Einhorn先生介入时高23%）；MBIA的股价下跌了88%。

This has allowed Assured to swoop in on some of the more attractive bits of rivals' books.
这让Assured得以大举收购竞争对手的一些更具吸引力的资产。

It is also diversifying: on August 9th it acquired BlueMountain,
它也越来越多样化：8月9日，它收购了BlueMountain，

a fund manager specialising in collateralised loan obligations—securities backed by leveraged loans,
一家专注于贷款抵押债券的基金管理公司—由杠杆贷款支持的债券，

which fared better than mortgagebacked debt in the crisis and remain popular with yield-hungry investors.
它在危机中的表现好于抵押贷款支持的债券并仍然受到渴望收益的投资者的欢迎。