Fannie and Freddie Could Be Worth $170 Billion in Fire Sale, But Private Investors May See Little or None of It
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...