Maiden Lane II is back.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York sold $7 billion of residential mortgage-backed securities it acquired from the American International Group (AIG) bailout fund Thursday to Credit Suisse (CS).
Proceeds from the sale will be reported in April.
At the height of the crisis in November 2008, the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department bought roughly $19.2 billion in defaulting RMBS and roughly another $1 billion in assets held by monoline insurer AIG. The government then planned to unload these bonds when as credit markets healed and capital became more available.
Most of the bonds were backed by subprime mortgages.
As of September 2011, the U.S. still held $9.6 billion before the latest sale to Credit Suisse.
“I am pleased with the strength of the bids and the level of market interest in these assets,” said New York Fed President William Dudley.
Goldman Sachs (GS), Barclays Capital, and Merrill Lynch also bid on the bonds. The New York Fed said it will unload the remaining holdings through investment firm BlackRock (BK) individually and over time “to avoid market disruption.”
Last summer, the Fed said it was postponing the sale of this block of Maiden Lane II as market participants complained it was crowding the market.
Write to Jon Prior.
Follow him on Twitter @JonAPrior.
