“The deleveraging that’s occurring is putting a lot of big asset pools up for sale. We’re looking at one or more big opportunities.”

—Laurence Fink, CEO, BlackRock, manages $1.3t in assets and recently raised $3b to invest in distressed assets

“Our single best asset in the portfolio right now is patience.”

—Mark Patterson, chairman, Matlin Patterson Global Advisors recently raised $5 billion to buy distressed companies

“Prices still need to drop dramatically. Just because prices are down doesn’t mean it’s cheap.”

—Scott Sperling, co-president of Thomas H. Lee Partners LP

More than $125 billion of junk bonds, including some of those most likely to default, will mature in the next three years, said Daniel Arbess, founder of New York-based Perella Weinberg Partners’ Xerion hedge fund.

When the bonds mature, it will be in a new credit environment in which lenders will be less likely to refinance that type of high-risk debt, Arbess said.

Default Rates

“That creates a very high likelihood of near-record defaults,” Arbess said.

Default rates for high-yield corporate debt probably will rise to 4.9 percent by the end of this year and 7.4 percent in 2008, according to a Sept. 8 report by New York-based Moody’s Investors Service.