By Dawn Kopecki (Corrects to indicate Treasury’s position on sale in first paragraph.) Nov. 9 (Bloomberg) — Fannie Mae is evaluating whether it will have to write down the value of its low-income housing tax credits after the U.S. Treasury Department rejected a plan to sell them, the mortgage-finance company said today. A proposal by Fannie Mae to sell $2.6 billion of the credits would cost taxpayers more than the company would gain from the sale, according to a letter Treasury sent to the Washington-based company on Nov. 6. Treasury was weighing whether to let Goldman Sachs Group Inc. buy credits, which could be used to lower the firm’s tax bill. “We are evaluating whether Treasury’s decision changes our prior determination that we continue to have the intent and ability to sell or otherwise transfer” the credits, the company said in a filing today with the Securities and Exchange Commission. “While our conservator has directed us to continue to explore options to sell or transfer these investments for value consistent with our mission, we believe this will be difficult given current constraints and market conditions.” If its $5.2 billion in credits can’t be sold, the company may have to write down their value to zero, Fannie Mae said in the statement. Fannie Mae operates under government conservatorship. To contact the reporter on this story: Dawn Kopecki in Washington at kopecki@bloomberg.net
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Fannie Mae May Write Down $5.2 Billion in Tax Credits as U.S. Rejects Deal
