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Article: Baltimore-based Legg Mason cuts SIVs by $1.7B
- Article from:
- The Daily Record (Baltimore)
- Article date:
- December 12, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2008 The Daily Record (Baltimore). Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Legg Mason Inc. sold its total holdings in Axon Financial Funding
Ltd. Thursday, in a move to decrease the company's exposure to risky
securities.
The sale reduced Baltimore-based Legg's holdings in Structured
Investment Vehicles, or SIVs, by 43 percent or $1.7 billion, the
company said in a call with analysts late Thursday.
SIVs try to profit by selling short-term securities at low
interest rates to fund the purchase of longer-term debt that pays
higher rates. SIV securities plummeted in value this year as credit
markets froze, and the borrowings of the funds could not be
refinanced because investors did not want to touch investments
connected to the housing market.
"What we want to do ...