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 ($53.55 -0.56%), Deutsche Bank ($45.11 -1.25%), Citigroup ($49.53 -0.48%) 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 ($14.80 -0.87%) 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

Specialty finance firm Shellpoint Partners debuted on the private-label residential mortgage-backed securitization scene Wednesday, becoming one of a few issuers in this segment of the market.

The central bank plans to continue purchasing additional agency mortgage-backed securities to nuture the nascent housing recovery while trying to keep unemployment rates down.