glossary Please select a letter below and then vertically scroll to find the word you are looking for  A  |  B  |  C  |  D  |  E  |  F  |  G  |  H  |  I  |  J  |  K  |  L  |  M   N  |  O  |  P  |  Q  |  R  |  S  |  T  |  U  |  V  |  W  |  X  |  Y  |  Z  leverage see gearing leveraged buy-out Raising of funds to buy out a company, the company’s assets being used as collateral for the borrowing. The loans are repaid from the company’s cash flow or by selling its assets. See also management buy-out liabilities The debts of a company and claims against it; the opposite of assets. Libid and Libor Libid is the London interbank bid rate, the rate that a bank is willing to pay for funds in the international interbank market; Libor is the London interbank offered rate, the rate at which banks offer to lend funds in this market. The average of the two is Limean. In practice, Libor is much the most frequently quoted. life assurance Assures the payment of agreed sums of money on a given date or on death, in return for the payment of regular premiums. Liffe London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange. liquidation Process which brings a company’s existence to an end after distributing its assets. A liquidator is the insolvency practitioner who winds up a company. liquidity The proportion of cash in a company's assets; also assets that are easily capable of being turned into cash. A measure of the short term financial health of the business. In financial markets, a measure of the volume of trading. loan capital Part of a company’s capital made up of loans from outside the company. Loan stock is stock issued against loans, either unsecured loan stock or debenture stock; the latter is secured by a charge on assets. Lombard rate The rate at which the Bundesbank, the German central bank, lends funds to banks as short-term credit. It is normally at least 1 percentage point above the discount rate and is regarded as an important international indicator. long Investors are long if they have bought shares but not yet arranged an offsetting sale. See also short. Long term debt Represents all interest-bearing financial obligations, excluding amounts due within one year. back to top