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Investing.com -- The Trump administration is preparing to sell stock in mortgage giants Fannie Mae (OTC:FNMA) and Freddie Mac (OTC:FMCC) in an offering that could raise approximately $30 billion and begin later this year.
According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, administration officials are discussing plans that could value the combined companies at roughly $500 billion or more. The offering would involve selling between 5% and 15% of their stock.
Officials are still debating whether the mortgage giants would go public as a single company or as two separate entities.
Fannie and Freddie, which bundle and sell mortgages, have been under government control since the 2008 financial crisis. They rely on a government-backed guarantee to protect investors from losses.
It remains unclear whether the companies will remain under government conservatorship after the stock sale.
In recent weeks, the CEOs of six major banks - Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM), Goldman Sachs, Citigroup (NYSE:C), Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) and Bank of America - traveled to Washington D.C. to meet with President Trump to discuss potential plans for Fannie and Freddie.