Economic Equities

September 7th:

The plan is out, and there is a lot to comprehend.

The WSJ article is very long, and believe it or not, This Bloomberg write up is more to the point. I did however cut it down, so the full version can be found here:

Sept. 7 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. government seized control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac after the biggest surge in mortgage defaults in at least three decades threatened to topple the companies making up almost half the U.S. home-loan market.

The FHFA will take over Fannie and Freddie under a so-called conservatorship, replacing their chief executives and eliminating their dividends. The Treasury can purchase up to $100 billion of a special class of stock in each company as needed to maintain a positive net worth. It will also provide secured short-term funding to Fannie, Freddie and 12 federal home-loan banks, and purchase mortgage-backed debt in the open market.

Treasury Gets Stock

Under the plan, the Treasury will receive $1 billion of senior preferred stock in coming days, with warrants representing ownership stakes of 79.9 percent of Fannie and Freddie. The government will receive annual interest of 10 percent on its stake.

As a condition for the assistance, Fannie and Freddie eventually will have to reduce their holdings of mortgages and securities backed by home loans.

The portfolios “shall not exceed $850 billion as of Dec. 31, 2009, and shall decline by 10 percent per year until it reaches $250 billion,”

TRANSLATION: De-leveraging.

the Treasury said. Fannie’s portfolio was $758 billion at the end of July, and Freddie’s was $798 billion.

Officials are aiming “to prevent the mortgage market from falling apart,” said former Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President William Poole. The Treasury’s funds “will be flowing in for quite a long time,” Poole, a Bloomberg contributor, said on Bloomberg Radio.

Herbert Allison, 65, former chief executive officer of TIAA- Cref, will take over as Fannie’s new CEO. David Moffett, 56, who was vice chairman of US Bancorp, will head Freddie, Lockhart said. They will work with existing management, he added.

Something of Note: In case you didn’t know, Herb Allison was the orchestrator of the LTCM rescue…this is just a little bigger than that, though.

Here’s the important part for direct investors:

Subordinated Debt

Lockhart added that interest and principal payments will continue to be made on the companies’ subordinated debt.

The government is taking an increasing role in financial markets, after the Fed six months ago provided $29 billion of financing to prevent Bear Stearns & Cos.’s collapse. Chairman Ben S. Bernanke praised today’s action in a statement.

The plan doesn’t answer all of investors’ questions about the companies’ long-term prospects. It also doesn’t address the question of whether the companies will be nationalized, privatized, or kept as government-sponsored enterprises that are shareholder owned. Paulson said that “only Congress” can tackle the “inherent conflict” of serving shareholders and a public mission.

“Keeping them alive is the wrong approach,” said Peter Wallison, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington and a former Treasury general counsel. “They need to be sustained, they’re essential to financing housing right now. But it doesn’t mean that they have to be maintained as GSEs.”

Wallison added that if Fannie and Freddie return to profitability, “then what the shareholders have is worth something.”

No End Date

The FHFA will aim to “preserve and conserve” the companies’ assets and property and put them “in a sound and solvent condition,” according to a fact sheet distributed by the Treasury. There is “no exact time frame” for when the conservatorship will end, the statement said.

Fannie and Freddie own or guarantee almost half of the $12 trillion in U.S. home loans and the government had been leaning on the companies to help pull the economy out of the housing crisis.

Concern over the companies’ capital pushed their borrowing costs to record levels over U.S. Treasuries, sent their common and preferred stocks tumbling and boosted mortgage rates. Fannie is down about 66 percent in New York Stock Exchange trading since the end of June. Freddie has fallen about 69 percent.

Paulson briefed Republican presidential candidate John McCain, Obama, and the Democratic and Republican leaders of the House and Senate. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd and House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank and their Republican minority counterparts were also informed.

Losses Mounted

As losses on the mortgages grew late last year, the companies recorded $14.9 billion in combined net losses, eating into their capital. Fannie raised $14.4 billion since November and Freddie sold $6 billion of preferred securities. Plans for a $5.5 billion sale were delayed as the company’s fortunes sank.

Fannie had $47 billion of capital as of June 30, according to company filings. The company is required by its regulator to hold $37.5 billion. Freddie’s capital stood at $37.1 billion, compared with a requirement of $34.5 billion, filings show.

Fannie’s market capitalization is now $7.6 billion, down from $38.9 billion at the end of last year. Freddie’s has fallen to $3.3 billion, from $22 billion over the same period.

Bernanke participated in the meetings because the central bank was given a consultative role in overseeing Fannie’s and Freddie’s capital under legislation approved in July.

The FHFA was scheduled to release its assessment of the companies’ capital levels as early as last week as part of a quarterly appraisal of their finances.