The short answer is yes. However, why it was done this way is important.
80 percent seems to be the precise point for outright ownership of the entities by the government. Which means the government would own the debt of the GSEs as well...and it would go on the government's books.
The 79.999 percent gives them full voting rights/control rights. So, they do not even have to hold shareholder votes while in conservatorship.
There is a lot of grey area here.
Like Ackman, can only hold up to 10 percent of the outstanding shares (which his company does) without SEC and other regulatory permission. Normally, this would allow him to request a seat on the board. But because the govt has unexecuted controlling shares through the warrants Ackman only has enough shares for 2 percent voting rights. So he is blocked out. And he cannot buy more with permission from the government...who is the conservator.
The rules in which the Senior Preferred Shares follow can be modified. So it is possible for the warrants to be cancelled.
If the current administration is indeed interested in freeing the GSEs it would be important to cancel some of the warrants to prevent a different administration from putting the conservatorship back in place and well as to make the remaining warrants more valuable at the IPO table.
Big money is not going to role in and buy into an IPO of this magnitude and purchase shares which are current market value, under threat of government manipulation, and other risks.
The government will have to cancel a portion of the warrants, sell some of the shares, give some of the proceeds to the GSEs to meet capital requirements, leave room for institutional investors to make some money on the deal in an IPO pop, AND make some money for the government to limit the damage from the other side of the political isle who are going to say this only helped the rich.
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