Fed to Conduct Sales for Final ML III Holdings

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York announced today the sales for the remaining holdings of its Maiden Lane III (ML III) portfolio. 

The circulation offerings were released today for non-agency RMBS BWIC 3 (with a current face amount of $1,514,240) and BWIC 4 (with a current face amount of $1,765,550).

Broker dealers participating in the bidding process, which will be held tomorrow, are: Amherst Securities Group, Barclays Capital, Cantor Fitzgerald & Co., Citigroup Global Markets, Cowen and Co., Credit Suisse, CRT Capital Group, Deutsche Bank Securities, Goldman Sachs, Guggenheim Securities, Jefferies & Co., JPMorgan Securities, Keybanc Capital Markets, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Morgan Stanley, Nomura Securities, RBS Securities , and SG Americas Securities.

There will also be auctions conducted on Aug. 23 for the portfolio's 21 CDOs, including Ayresome CDO I, LTD.; Bluegrass ABS CDO II LTD.; Diogenes CDO I LTD.; Dunhill ABS CDO, LTD.; Gemstone CDO III, LTD.; Gemstone CDO IV, LTD.; and Ischus CDO II LTD, among others.

Investors have been fearing the end of ML III sales, which have been a source of product for the market since the Federal Reserve changed its investment objective for the portfolio in April 2012. Given the improving market conditions, the new mandate allowed for the exploration of the portfolio's asset sales, according to the Fed's Web site.