Freddie Mac, the U.S.-owned mortgage- finance company, will pay $7 billion to the Treasury Department after reporting the second-largest quarterly net income in the company’s history.
(Bloomberg) - Freddie Mac, the U.S.-owned mortgage- finance company, will pay $7 billion to the Treasury Department after reporting the second-largest quarterly net income in the company’s history.
The government-sponsored enterprise, which has operated under federal conservatorship since it was seized in 2008, had net income of $4.6 billion for the three-month period that ended March 31, according to a statement released today as part of the McLean, Virginia-based company’s regulatory filing.
“Not surprisingly the strong rebound in the housing market of which we’re all aware continued to be reflected in our excellent financial performance in the first quarter,” Freddie Mac (FMCC) Chief Executive Officer Don Layton said on a conference call with reporters.
Freddie Mac finished the first quarter with net worth of $10 billion and is required to pay everything above $3 billion to Treasury in return for taxpayer aid under conservatorship. The company and Washington-based Fannie Mae have received almost $190 billion in assistance since they were seized amid losses that pushed them toward insolvency.
They returned to profitability as the housing market recovered, with Fannie Mae’s net income last year exceeding that of companies such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT), General Electric Co. (GE) and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK/A), according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
