Fannie Mae plans to sell $2 billion of commercial-mortgage bonds issued before the credit market seizure as it seeks to reduce holdings of illiquid assets, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The government-controlled loan financier, which has returned to profitability after being taken over by U.S. regulators in 2008, is offering securities linked to apartment complexes issued in 2006 and 2007. Demand for bonds backed by loans on commercial-properties from offices to hotels to strip malls is surging, sending values on the debt up by as much as 25 percent since December, according to Deutsche Bank AG. Executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were given a goal in March of selling off at least 5 percent of illiquid holdings this year as the Federal Housing Finance Agency seeks to make the firms smaller.
