When a group of men who got rich by buying low and selling high want to make you their partner, hang on to your wallet. That bit of financial wisdom was amply demonstrated by the 97 per cent peak-to-trough drop in the common stock of Fortress Investment Group on its second anniversary as a public company last month. Leverage cuts both ways, and its impact has been almost entirely bad for the alternative asset manager with the low point being a temporary halt to redemptions at its Drawbridge hedge fund late last year.

But investors looking over the detritus left by the financial crisis seem suddenly to realise that, having survived so far, Fortress is ideally suited to reap a future bonanza. They looked past a hefty net loss for the fourth quarter and bid Fortress’ shares up as much as 40 per cent on Monday upon hearing its optimism about participating in the first round of the term asset-backed securities loan facility (Talf). Fortress is one of a handful of groups that retain the size and credibility to play a role in what may prove to be a high reward and relatively low-risk exercise. Fortress executives dub the coming period “the great liquidation”.