Inquiring minds want to know, who in the heck would buy it? What kind of financial incentives or government armtwisting is going on behind the scenes?
From the WSJ e-mail I just received (this link may work for non-subscribers)…
Mortgage giant Freddie Mac — emboldened by emergency regulatory actions that have triggered a two-day rebound in its battered stock — is considering raising capital by selling as much as $10 billion in new shares to investors, according to people familiar with the matter.
The high-stakes maneuver would have the potential to avoid a full-blown government rescue for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, twin keystones of the U.S. housing market. The publicly traded, government-sponsored companies own or guarantee about $5.2 trillion of home mortgages, or nearly half the total outstanding, and are at the center of government efforts to prop up the sagging housing market.
I don’t give investment advice, but stay away.
