Western Asset Management announces IPO for agency RMBS investments

By Jacob Gaffney
• April 30, 2012 • 11:37am

Western Asset Management, the fixed-income arm of Baltimore-based asset manager Legg Mason, disclosed terms of its initial public offering.

Western Asset Management is a real estate investment trust looking to raise $160 million by issuing 8 million shares at $20 each.

The REIT, which will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol WMC, will use proceeds to invest in mortgage-backed securities from Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae.

According to Renaissance Capital, JPMorgan ($54.11 0.26%), Deutsche Bank ($46.36 0.6%), Citigroup ($50.01 0.65%) and Jefferies are the joint bookrunners on the deal.

If successful, Western Asset Management will be worth $207 million, however some recent REIT IPOs fell below expectation.

Ares Commercial Real Estate ($15.67 -0.26%) priced an IPO late last week, raising $7.7 million of common stock at $18.50 per share. Original predictions were $19 to $20 per share.

jgaffney@housingwire.com

More In Investments

The current status quo of the mortgage finance system is not only unsustainable, but it’s unacceptable due to a variety of hiccups, including government dominance, said Lewis Ranieri, chairman and founding partner of Ranieri Partners.

mREITs posted weak performance over May, with total returns the lowest since September 2011, according to the Royal Bank of Scotland.