Fannie and Freddie Could Be Worth $170 Billion in Fire Sale, But Private Investors May See Little or None of It
March 20, 2014
If Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are eventually liquidated, the federal government could reap between $170 billion and $234 billion in net proceeds, according to a new audit of the firms, but that doesn’t mean the junior preferred stockholders in the two will see a dime of that money. The newly released Johnson-Crapo mortgage finance reform bill provides no relief to investors in the junior preferred or owners of common stock in the two government-sponsored enterprises, leaving all liquidation proceeds to the U.S. Treasury, which owns the senior preferred shares. Over the past 18 months, several high-profile private-equity firms – Fairholme Capital, Pershing Square and Perry Capital, to name a few – have invested...