ML PRINCIPAL PROTECTION L.P. (formerly, ML Principal Protection Plus L.P.) SERIES L UNITS PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT DATED MAY 15, 1997 TO PROSPECTUS DATED April 4, 1997 ____________________ The Series L Units will be sold on or about July 1, 1997 pursuant to acceptable subscriptions received on or before June 30, 1997. The Principal Assurance Date for the Series L Units will be June 30, 2002. Series L Units are offered at $100 per Unit ($97 in the case of officers and employees of Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. and its affiliates). The minimum initial investment is 50 Units ($5,000); the minimum investment for existing Limited Partners is 10 Units ($1,000). Any greater number of whole Units may be purchased. 75% of the capital attributable to Series L Units will initially be committed to trading. No distributions are presently intended to be made on the Series L Units. The Series L Units may be redeemed as of the end of any calendar month at Net Asset Value, subject to a 3% redemption charge payable to Merrill Lynch Investment Partners Inc. ("MLIP") on redemptions made on or prior to June 30, 1998. _________________________ The reverse side of this Prospectus Supplement provides certain outline information regarding the current Advisors used by ML Principal Protection L.P. (the "Fund"). _________________________ IN ADDITION TO THIS PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT, THE PROSPECTUS MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY SUMMARY FINANCIAL INFORMATION FOR THE FUND CURRENT WITHIN 60 CALENDAR DAYS _________________________ THE COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION HAS NOT PASSED UPON THE MERITS OF PARTICIPATING IN THIS POOL NOR HAS THE COMMISSION PASSED UPON THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT. _________________________ THESE SECURITIES HAVE NOT BEEN APPROVED OR DISAPPROVED BY THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION OR ANY STATE SECURITIES COMMISSION NOR HAS THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION OR ANY STATE SECURITIES COMMISSION PASSED UPON THE ACCURACY OR ADEQUACY OF THIS PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT. ANY REPRESENTATION TO THE CONTRARY IS A CRIMINAL OFFENSE. _________________________ Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated Selling Agent Merrill Lynch Investment Partners Inc. General Partner ML PRINCIPAL PROTECTION L.P. (formerly, ML Principal Protection Plus L.P.) ------------- As of April 1, 1997, the Net Asset Value of a Series A Unit initially issued for $100 as of October 12, 1994 had risen to $126.69 (adding back to Net Asset Value aggregate distributions of $12.00 per Series A Unit). ------------- The allocation of the Fund's trading assets (75% of the capital initially attributable to each series of Units sold pursuant to this Prospectus Supplement and thereafter) among its core Advisors as of April 1, 1997 is set forth below in the parentheses following each core Advisor's name. The accompanying Prospectus includes more detailed information concerning the core Advisors. See "The Advisors" and "The Core Advisors" in the Prospectus. Core Advisors are Advisors allocated 10% or more of the Fund's trading assets for management. Non- core Advisors are each allocated less than 10% of the Fund's assets for management. The particular percentage allocations to the non-core Advisors are not identified because, among other things, these allocations are subject to frequent changes both due to the effects of differential performance and to Merrill Lynch Investment Partners Inc. reallocating the Fund's traded assets among such Advisors. Annualized Assets Under Worst/Best Standard Management General Monthly Deviation In Strategy Core Advisors Rate of Return/1/ of Return/2/ Fund Program/3/ Classification/4/ --------------------- ------------ --------------- ----------------- Chesapeake Capital Corporation (10.98)% / 15.99% 17.8% $914 million Technical; Diversified Trading Program(19%) trend-following John W. Henry & Company, Inc. (27.7)/5/ / 25.5% 25.7% $1.1 billion Technical; Financial and Metals Portfolio (15%) trend-following Non-Core Advisors AIS Futures Management, Inc. (10.64)%/ 13.39% 17.8% $115 million Systematic; MAAP-2X-4X Program trend-following ARA Portfolio Management Company, L.L.C. (6.48)%/5// 7.89% 10.9% $ 92 million Technical; Alpha Program trend-following Graham Capital Management, L.P. (6.31)% /12.33% 13.6% $208 million Technical; Diversified Program trend-following Trendstat Capital Management, Inc. (5.83)% /10.28% 11.8% $160 million Technical; World Currency Program trend-related Hill Financial Group, Ltd. ( 6.2)% /9.9 % 11.2% $ 90 million Technical; Multiple Strategy Program systematic Milburn Ridgefield Corporation (9.04)% /19.38% 17.4% $218 million Technical; Global Portfolio--Normal Leverage trend-following Quantitative Financial Strategies, Inc. (7.62)% /13.29% 15.6% $177 million/6/ Systematic; The Currency Program fundamental Range Wise, Inc. (6.92)%/ /12.91% 12.6% $ 48 million Discretionary; Range Wise Trading Program fundamental Allied Irish Capital Management Ltd. (2.11)% / 2.80% 3.5% $193 million Discretionary; Worldwide Financial Futures Program fundamental Fundamental Futures, Inc. (10.66)% /11.23% 14.5% $ 64 million Discretionary; Fundamental Futures Trading Program fundamental PAST PERFORMANCE IS NOT NECESSARILY INDICATIVE OF FUTURE RESULTS. Performance and assets under management information is current as of March 31, 1997. Performance figures are not audited. Futures trading is highly leveraged, as is each Advisor's trading program. No Advisor has been asked to make any special adjustments to its leveraging policies in the case of the Fund. See "Leverage Considerations" and "Risk Factors" in the Prospectus. In considering the leverage at which the different Advisors trade and the volatility of their performance, prospective investors should recognize that due to the limited percentage of the Fund's trading assets allocated to each of them, none of the non-core Advisors, individually, is likely to have a material effect, over the short-term, on either the overall return or the overall performance volatility of the Fund. The non-core Advisors as a group can have a significant effect on performance. However, the likely performance non- correlation among at least certain of these Advisors reduces the likelihood of any major short-term effect. The current non-core Advisors each receive Consulting Fees of up to 2% per annum of the Fund's assets managed by each of them, respectively, plus quarterly or annual Profit Shares of between 15% and 20% of any cumulative New Trading Profit achieved by each such Advisor. - ---------- 1 The lowest and the highest monthly rate of return for the program traded for the Fund. Performance information is presented for the period from January 1, 1992 (or inception, if later) through March 31, 1997. 2 An annualized standard deviation of 2% and a mean return of 1% would mean that approximately two-thirds of all monthly returns during a year have historically fallen between (1)% and 3%, i.e., within a range (deviation) of 2% above or below the mean. Standard deviation is one widely-accepted measure of risk, as standard deviation indicates the variability of returns. In general, the more variable an Advisor's historical returns, the greater the risk that substantial losses have been included within the historical range of returns. 3 Assets under management in the program traded for the Fund ("notional" funds excluded, except as described in Note (6) below). 4 See "The Core Advisors" in the Prospectus for a description of these strategy classifications. 5 The worst Monthly Rate of Return of any individual account, not of the program on a composite basis. 6 "Notional" funds are included in assets under management for Quantitative Financial Strategies, Inc.