The latest round of earnings reports has carried additional disclosures related to previously taken support actions by money market advisors to protect their funds, and some commingled pools, from exposure to SIV and other related distressed debt. Crane Data has also stumbled across another batch of mutual fund filings that disclose support agreements, and that disclose unprotected holdings of distressed SIV CP. Our full listing and table of updated loss amounts will be published in an upcoming quarterly issue of Money Fund Intelligence Distribution Survey, but we note a couple of news items below.
First, the Victory Funds, managed by KeyBank subsidiary Victory Capital Management, disclosed in a recent N-Q quarterly portfolio holdings SEC filing (as of Jan. 31, 2008) that Victory Prime Obligations, Victory Institutional Money Market Fund, and Victory Financial Reserves own "$16 million, $15 million and $5 million" in medium-term notes of Cheyne Finance LLC. The board "has agreed that it would not be in the best interests of the Funds or their shareholders to dispose of the Cheyne securities at this time. The Funds have continued to carry the Cheyne securities in the Funds' portfolios." (Portfolio manager Mike Gabriel also recently left the company.)
Another SIV victim is RiverSource Cash Management Fund, which disclosed in its Form N-CSR that it continues to hold both defaulted Cheyne Finance LLC and Whistlejacket Capital LLC debt. It adds, "As of March 10, 2008, with the exception of Cheyne Finance LLC and WhistleJacket Capital LLC, it is still anticipated that the Fund will receive full payment on the other SIV investments." RiverSource is the former American Express Funds.
Finally, BNY Mellon disclosed in its earnings yesterday a $12 million expense related to a "capital support agreement". The release says, "During the first quarter of 2008, we executed a capital support agreement for a commingled short-term NAV fund, which is managed by securities lending in the Asset Servicing segment, of $55.5 million covering securities related to Whistle Jacket Capital/White Pine Financial, LLC. Subsequently, we executed another capital support agreement for the same CNAV Fund of $30 million covering securities related to Thornburg Mortgage Capital Resources." These actions did not involve either Dreyfus money market mutual funds or BNY Hamilton money market mutual funds.
