Fannie Mae (FNMA)

[CatBirdSeat]

How FNF can create over $20B overnight…

https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/02/business/worldbusiness/02iht-sorkin.1.15819674.html


“the economics of a merger are compelling!

Consider the math: For the first six months of this year, both companies spent $1.825 billion in overhead costs combined; on an annualized basis, that means the companies are spending about $3.65 billion.

Given that the companies do pretty much the same thing - buying mortgages from banks, insuring them and creating mortgage-backed securities - there might be opportunities for savings if many of their managers and staff are, to put it politely, redundant.

Conservatively, a combined Fannie and Freddie could probably cut a third of its overhead and staff, saving some $1.2 billion annually.

The way Wall Street values companies, that means - presto - billions more in value, perhaps as much as $18 billion or $19 billion, could be created overnight.”


"It would instill a huge amount of confidence. The market will know that both entities combined will have much more consistent, stable margins," John Lekas, chief executive of Leader Capital, an investment firm, said on CNBC last week. He added that it "doesn't cost taxpayers one nickel."