Fed sells $7 bn in AIG assets to Credit Suisse

The New York Federal Reserve on Thursday said it had sold $7 billion in residential mortgage-backed assets acquired in its AIG bailout to Swiss bank Credit Suisse. The New York Fed did not disclose the amount Credit Suisse paid for the assets, which it said were worth $7.01 billion in face value. The assets from a special portfolio created in the 2008 rescue of AIG were sold through a competitive bidding process to ensure the public would reap the highest return, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said in a statement. Four broker-dealers participated: Barclays Capital Inc., Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, Goldman Sachs & Co. and Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. "I am pleased with the strength of the bids and the level of market interest in these assets," William Dudley, president of the New York Fed, said in the statement. The sale had been prompted by an "unsolicited" offer from Goldman Sachs to earlier in the month to buy a portion of the assets from the financial vehicle, Maiden Lane II, the central bank said. The New York Fed said it had decided to move forward with the transaction "only after determining that the winning bid represented good value for the public. This transaction substantially reduces the ML II portfolio and loan at a desirable price." The regional central bank reiterated that it would dispose of the remaining securities in the ML II portfolio "individually and in segments over time as market conditions warrant" through a competitive sales process, while taking "appropriate care" to avoid market disruption. Maiden Lane, Maiden Lane II and Maiden Lane III financial facilities were launched in 2008 to provide liquidity to American International Group after the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy sent global financial markets into a tailspin. The Federal Reserve stepped in to rescue AIG on September 16, 2008, after worries about the company's finances sent the share price to a low of $1.25, from $56 at the beginning of the year. The rescue involved some $140 billion in investment, loans and guarantees from the US Treasury and the central bank.