Nov 25, 2007

Super SIV hasn't begun buying up SIV assets yet

As of late-November, the superfund [Henry] Paulson helped conceive had not yet begun buying up SIV assets, though bankers working on M-LEC [master liquidity enhancement conduit] at Bank of America's New York offices had settled on a structure for the superfund, according to a person familiar with the talks. Meanwhile, the SIVs were losing value.

There are 30 SIVs that held securities worth $400 billion when the mortgage meltdown began in July, according to Moody's Investors Service. Their net asset value fell more than 30 percent from July to mid-November. As of the first week of November, SIVs had been forced to sell at least $75 billion of assets as investors retreated from all but the safest bets.

~ Bloomberg.com, "Paulson Finds Bush's Treasury No Career Enhancer Like Goldman," November 21, 2007, by Rich Miller, Matthew Benjamin and Kevin Carmichael

No comments: