Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Avoid NYSE Delisting as Shares Triple
District-based Fannie Mae was up 232 percent in August, the highest level since being forced into conservatorship.
(By Bill O'leary -- The Washington Post)
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Saturday, September 5, 2009
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage-finance companies seized by U.S. regulators a year ago, avoided delisting on the New York Stock Exchange after their shares more than tripled last month.
The NYSE notified Freddie Mac on Thursday that a review as of Aug. 31 showed its average share price for the preceding 30 trading days was above $1, meeting minimum listing requirements, according to a statement Friday from the McLean-based company. District-based Fannie Mae said separately that it was also notified by the NYSE Thursday of its compliance.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shares last week rose above $2 to their highest levels since the government forced the companies into conservatorship in September 2008. Fannie Mae was up 232 percent in August, while Freddie Mac surged 269 percent for the month.
FBR Capital Market analyst Paul Miller said the rally was unjustified and attributed the jump to short sellers and investor speculation about reverse stock splits. "There is no fundamental value remaining in Fannie and Freddie, particularly since the government owns 80 percent of each company," Miller wrote in a note to investors on Monday.
Under NYSE rules, if a stock's 30-day average price falls below $1, the exchange sends a formal warning and gives the company six months to correct the deficiency. Freddie Mac, which peaked at $73.70 in December 2004, had closed at less than $1 on all but one day from Dec. 1, 2008, through Aug. 7, in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Fannie Mae closed below $1 through the same period. The stock peaked at $87.81 in 2000.
Fannie Mae rose 13 cents, or 7.9 percent, to $1.77 Friday, while Freddie Mac rose 10 cents, or 5.3 percent, to $1.97.
The companies, responsible for $5.2 trillion in U.S. residential mortgage debt, have booked a combined $165.3 billion in quarterly net losses in the past two years and have received or requested $95.6 billion in taxpayer aid since November.
The Obama administration is considering options to restructure the companies next year, including a wholesale liquidation or splitting off their bad assets into a separate government-backed entity.
