Customer Reviews

Distress Investing: Principles and Technique (Wiley Finance)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
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Fernando Diz and Martin Whitman's Distress Investing is a practical tool to both beginner and experienced investors. Today's worldwide economic downturn has created attractive investments for distressed investors which makes this book a timely release. Distress Investing guides the reader step by step from defining distressed debt to valuation. Understanding creditor's rights and bankruptcy law allow distressed investors to capitalize on investments that are overlooked by individuals who are not knowledgeable of their securities' rights. In addition, it offers insight into many of Martin Whitman's strategies that he has employed during his long successful career of investment finance. Distress Investing is well written and provides excellent examples that make it an easy read. I would recommend this book to any individual looking to expand their knowledge base beyond equities.

I picked up this book because with the current economic crisis, it seems like anywhere I turn I am finding incredible deals. This book, however, focuses on distressed debt which is not specifically my specialty, but I definitely learned a lot from it.

The author discusses topics such as Chapter 11 reorganization, securities' rights, and the workout process. Because these special situations add another complexity level to investing, there is not that much competition from institutional investors so the opportunities for above average returns are plentiful. I would recommend this book to serious investors.

- Mariusz Skonieczny, author of Why Are We So Clueless about the Stock Market? Learn how to invest your money, how to pick stocks, and how to make money in the stock market

The book may be good for people who are very familiar with distress investing, but honestly that I can not judge. What I can tell is that the book is totally unsuitable for people unfamiliar with the subject. I stopped reading the book somewhere in the middle (and that is the first book in a list of about 70 on investing (or trading) where I gave up) because I was overwhelmed by the jargon and the descriptions of laws surrounding distress investing. I had the impression that it was more a book for lawyers and other people involved in the legal aspects of bankruptcies. But it is definitely not suited for common stock investors. If you don't have THOROUGH knowledge of the field, the book is certainly not for you.

This book is filled with a lot of knowledge about investing in distressed assets and navigating your way, as an investor, through the the bankruptcy process. However, this book is for institutional or-- in the words of Martin Whitman-- "control" investors. There is close to nothing of value here for the retail investor who is looking to understand this aspect of investing and profit from it. Joel Greenblatt's chapter on bankruptcies in "You Can be a Stock Market Genius" is far more valuable for retail investors.

When Martin Whitman comes out with a book on investing it is definitely worth a look. He is one of the greatest investors of our time in both credit and stock markets. This book was a good book on distress investing and bankruptcy laws. He covers a lot of recent changes in bankruptcy law(after 2005) which had a huge effect on analyzing a distressed security.

This book is very good for a more advanced investor. Marty will guide you through the process of finding and analyzing distressed securities both in small and large companies. He goes through the various competing classes of investors (secured, unsecured, senior, common stock holders etc.) and guides you how to analyze how much if any money these creditors will receive.

I write exclusively for my a financial website devoted to investing I wrote a more in depth review which I can not post here, due to their exclusive rights to my articles. To see my more in depth review either visit the site I write for or my website. You can find them both in my profile.

First it should be noted that this book is not for the casual weekend investor but for the more serious investor willing to get their hands a little dirty. Also, much like Mr. Whitman's classic book "Aggressive Conservative Investor", this book too is not necessarily set up to read in series or chronologically as one can if one wishes to start with sections that interest them the most. Also like the aforementioned classic, this book also provides considerable space devoted to describing the real world faced by both the outsiders and the insiders with respect to where their interests and incentives are most likely set. Understanding the viewpoints of both the insiders, whether corporate management or the directors, and the outsiders, whether control investors, the banker, the financier, the short-term traders, or that of the outside passive investor will help you along your way in understanding what may be happening in the market and why. Why? - because one needs to understand the view of the interested parties perspective and that one may temporarily have leverage over the other.

With that cautionary note, the reader can gain some great insights into the somewhat hidden world of how the bankruptcy process works. With the ample examples and historical perspective that the authors bring to the table, the reader will gain more understanding of what is going on versus what one may read in the daily headlines of the pre-filing, or the post-filing, of the bankruptcy proceedings.

All in this book provides one with some safeguards in regards to what to invest in and what to look out for while investigating distressed opportunities. "Distressed Investing" also still sticks to the Safe & Cheap philosophy advocated by both the authors and from the framework of Benjamin Graham.

Martin Whitman's experience and knowledge in distress investing is encapsulated in a timely and informative book. Whitman and Diz discuss relevant topics ranging from different types of risk to chapter 11 reorganization. Any serious value or distress investor will be privy to a wealth of knowledge relevant to analyzing and investing in distressed securities. Furthermore, the authors clearly and articulately explain the origins of the credit crisis and current opportunities present in a volatile and inefficient market.

As a student of Professor Diz and someone familiar with Mr. Whitman's investment philosophy, I wholeheartedly recommend this book.

Although each concept is repeated over 10 times - the book can be less than half the current size without losing any information, the authors did present their unparalleled knowledge and experience in the US bankruptcy and reorganization system.

The insights gained, especially into the workings of real world reorganization processes, are certainly invaluable, well worth the price and time spent on the book, and hopefully will be beneficial to the reader's long-term financial well-beings as well.

Joseph Brown, CEO of MBIA, was one of four individuals who wrote 'individual praise'. The 'recommended' MBIA surplus notes have been mentioned quite a few times, only for one to know that Whitman's firm is suing MBIA now, taking distressed debt investing to a whole new level!