a few $B can make the difference, however, A&M have some significant incentives in place to find enough cash to pay out equity in full. i forget what their bonus is, but it's based on a % of assets recovered. this serves us well imo.
then, consider that the capital trusts require only $1.2B in assets over liabilities, and to pay all of the preferreds full face value (in most cases $25/share) it's only another $8.53B.
that may sound like a lot, but when you take a look at the size of the whole balance sheet, and considering the magnitude of the numbers in any one line item (like the $$ that could be won in a case against JPM or barclay's, for instance), what separates a payout on LEHJQ of $5 per share or $25 per share is only $6.82B... not a lot of differential. i'll bet that could be accounted for in just one small uptick in real estate values. jmho.
also, think of the magnitude of the leverage here. let's say all A&M gets for LEHJQ is a buck a share, or .04% of face for all the preferreds. that's still a near 14 bagger from here, and it would require only $341M extra, over and above the $1.2B for the CTs.
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