The Fed Sells Eight Bonds from Maiden Lane II Portfolio for $534.1M

On Thursday, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York bank sold eight bonds from its Maiden Lane II portfolio acquired from American International Group (AIG) for $534.1 million.

Published on April 18, 2011

Earlier in the week, the central bank sold 37 subprime mortgage bonds for $626 million. The transactions suggest there is still demand for this asset class in the market.

The Fed acquired the bonds from AIG in the heat of the financial crisis in 2008 and parked them in its Maiden Lane II portfolio. The new sales follow a $1.3 billion subprime mortgage-backed offering by the Fed on similar AIG assets a week ago.

At the end of March, the Fed rejected AIG's offer to buy back the residential mortgage-backed securities, deciding to offer them piecemeal in the open market instead.

Fed officials "judged that the public interest in maximizing returns from any sale and promoting financial stability would be better served by an alternative approach to realizing value that is also more consistent with normal market practice."