Fairholme Capital Management "Encourages Boards of Directors to retain earnings, cease borrowing to pay voluntary dividends, review relevant financial information, provide accurate disclosure, and address conflicts of interest, including retaining independent advisors when FHFA is conflicted."
Fairholme Capital Management ("Fairholme") today released letters sent to the Boards of Directors of the Federal National Mortgage Association ("Fannie Mae") and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation ("Freddie Mac") requesting various fundamental corporate governance actions. Fairholme believes it is appropriate to release these letters in light of the significant number of investors in the publicly traded securities of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Copies of the letters are available online at: http://www.fairholmecapitalmanagement.com/gse.pdf
The letters urge the Directors to act in the best interests of each company and in accordance with accepted best practices for corporate governance. Specifically, Fairholme asks the Directors to conserve company assets and retain earnings to rebuild capital, cease borrowing for the purposes of paying voluntary dividends to the United States Treasury, review relevant financial information prior to decision-making, provide accurate disclosure, and proactively address conflicts of interest, including retaining independent professionals to advise each company when FHFA is conflicted.
