Although the business was insolvent, it had a surplus of assets and after this was realised, Byrne's bankruptcy was discharged in August 1891.

As the demise of shipbuilding after the war afforded him little opportunity to recover from his losses, the firm was dissolved in 1868, with no large surplus of assets.

In exchange for providing a net surplus of assets, commodities, debt financing, goods, and services, foreign countries are "forced" to hold an equal dollar amount of U.S. treasuries.

For all the attention heaped on mutual funds, there is still a wide selection of underappreciated first-class funds - with proven strategies under longtime managers but without a surplus of assets, said Jeff Kelley, managing editor of Morningstar Mutual Funds, a newsletter.