Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Reports Stakes In Freddie Mac And Fannie Mae

By LINETTE LOPEZ


Bill Ackman's hedge fund Pershing Square has taken a 9.77% stake in mortgage insurer Freddie Mac, and a 9.98% stake in Fannie Mae according to government filings.

This after yesterday Bruce Berkowitz of Fairholme Capital Management announced that he and other investors were willing to buy and recapitalize Freddie Mac and its sister company Fannie Mae.

"This proposal is about the future," Berkowitz said in a CNBC interview yesterday, later adding, "We are apolitical, we will do it any way government wants."

And what the government wants is to wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — they just may not want to do it with the help of activist money managers. Senators Bob Corker and (R-TN) and Mark Warner (D-VA) have introduced legislation to replace Fannie and Freddie with "privately capitalized system that preserves market liquidity and protects taxpayers from future economic downturns."

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-ackmans-pershing-square-reports-98-stake-in-freddie-mac-2013-11#ixzz2kj1qYVzD