Market Crisis
The trusts of two of Herbert’s deceased siblings, Margaret and Hassie Hunt, controlled another oil company, Hunt Petroleum Corp., which was acquired by XTO Energy Inc. for $3.7 billion in 2008. A legal dispute among Hunt heirs over that company was settled in 2010.
Last week, Bunker sold 90 percent of his closely held Hemco Nicaragua SA, a gold miner, to Mineros SA of Colombia. Terms were not disclosed.
Bunker discovered oil fields in Libya in the 1960s, losing them when Muammar Qaddafi nationalized the fields in 1971. Those losses prompted him to invest in a commodity he could control, according to Jeffrey C. Williams, a professor of economics at University of California at Davis.
Since gold investing was barred by the U.S. government until 1977, Bunker turned to silver, recruiting Herbert -– and, later, another brother, Lamar -- to join him, Williams said by phone.
Silver Bubble
Williams testified on behalf of the Hunts when they were sued over their silver trading in the 1980s, and has written a book on the market crisis. The brothers accumulated silver positions of a size never seen before or since, in part because U.S. tax regulations discouraged taking short-term gains.
“They liked to take big risks,” Williams said.
By 1980, the Hunts held more than 15 percent of the world’s silver. When silver peaked at $49.45 an ounce in January 1980, the brothers had more than $9.6 billion in bullion and futures contracts, plus hundreds of millions of dollars more in oil assets and other stocks, according to a 1982 report by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
When the bull market in silver reversed, the brothers received margin calls which some of their brokers, including Merrill Lynch & Co. and Bache Group, helped them meet with more than $475 million in loans, according to the SEC report.