The Asian Crisis

They say a problem is an opportunity in disguise. However, for us the Asian crisis was merely two problems in the same overcoat. Much of the money used to fund what, a few years earlier, were referred to as ‘Tiger Economies’ came from financial institutions in Europe and the US. When, like MTI’s stake in our competitor in Singapore, these investments went sour, UK banks were among the investors left trying to bounce dead cats. In a desperate bid to reduce their exposure, banks stopped advancing new loans and called in as many of the existing ones as legally possible. Hit hard was the commercial property market; the City of London first, then a wave of distressed properties rippling out into the provinces …


… (An extract from The Ghost in the Labyrinth by Peter Kruger)