Options for Fannie, Freddie May Include ‘Wind-Down’

May 11 (Bloomberg) -- Options for overhauling Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-run mortgage-finance companies, may eventually include liquidating their assets, according to an analysis released today by the Obama administration.

The Office of Management and Budget also projected today in its budget analysis for fiscal 2010 that the companies, which have received or requested $78.8 billion in aid since their federal takeover in September, will need at least $92.2 billion more. The Treasury Department doubled an emergency capital commitment for each company in February to $200 billion. The 2010 fiscal year ends Sept. 30, 2010.

Alternatives range from “a gradual wind-down of their operations and liquidation of their assets,” to returning the two companies to their previous status as government-sponsored enterprises that seek to maximize shareholder returns while pursuing public-policy goals, according to OMB’s analysis of President Barack Obama’s proposed federal budget.

“The last entities that are going to be set free will be Fannie and Freddie because they’re so key to the housing market,” said Bradley Hintz, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. in New York, in a phone interview today.

The companies are coming under increasing strain as the Obama administration leans on them to help refinance and modify loans at risk of foreclosure amid the worst housing market since the Great Depression, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have said in securities filings. The government-sponsored enterprises pose a risk to the economy, though the federal takeover and Treasury backing have “substantially reduced” that threat, OMB said.

‘Vital Parts’ of Economy

“The GSEs borrow huge amounts from various types of investors, and the health of the housing market critically affects the overall economic activity,” the budget office said. “Thus, financial trouble at one or more of the GSEs could unsettle not only the mortgage finance markets but also other vital parts of the financial system and economy.”

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may be nationalized, dissolved and broken up into several smaller companies, revamped as public utilities with the full faith and credit of the U.S. government or converted into insurers for covered bonds backed by U.S. mortgages, OMB said.

Washington-based Fannie Mae has booked seven consecutive quarters of losses totaling $86.8 billion as of March 31. McLean, Virginia-based Freddie Mac, which is expected to report its first-quarter results this week, has reported six straight quarters of losses totaling $53.8 billion as of Dec. 31.

Like many other U.S. financial institutions, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac face “market risk, credit risk and operational risk,” according to the budget office.

Obama’s Housing Program

The companies play a leading role in Obama’s Making Home Affordable program to curb mortgage defaults. The government initiatives, announced in February, have yet to curtail the surge in foreclosures and delinquencies. A record 803,489 U.S. properties received a default or auction notice or were seized in the first quarter, 24 percent more than a year earlier, as employers cut jobs and temporary programs to assist homeowners came to an end, RealtyTrac Inc. said April 16.

Fannie Mae and smaller competitor Freddie Mac, which own or guarantee almost half of the U.S. residential mortgage debt, were seized by regulators in September because the two were at risk of failing and regulators feared that may threaten the health of the broader U.S. economy.

Treasury’s capital commitment for the companies expires on Dec. 31. While the companies won’t have to repay their federal aid by then, they won’t be able to borrow more unless Congress extends the date.