Moody's Investors Service announced several new "offshore" triple-A money fund ratings last week. The releases include: "Moody's assigns Aaa/MR1+ to Western Asset Government Money Market Fund," and "Moody's assigns Aaa/MR1+ ratings to four UBS funds." The first press release says, "Moody's Investors Service has assigned a Aaa/MR1+ money market fund rating to the Western Asset Government Money Market Fund, Ltd., which was launched in March. The fund, which has three share classes, is a Cayman Island company investing exclusively in the Government Portfolio, which is a separate series of Master Portfolio Trust, a Maryland business trust. The fund will not be registered under the 1940 Act and is not registered under the 1933 Act." VP and Senior Credit Officer Martin Duffy says, "The Aaa/MR1+ fund rating assigned to the fund reflects our view that the investment strategy for this fund will be conservative." The release adds, "The fund is part of a master feeder structure with two feeder funds that invest all their investable assets exclusively in the master US registered Government Portfolio." Moody's says of UBS, "Moody's Investors Service today assigned money market fund ratings of Aaa/MR1+ to each of the newly established UBS (Cay) Select Treasury Preferred Fund Ltd., UBS (Cay) Select Treasury Institutional Fund Ltd., UBS (Cay) Select Prime Preferred Fund Ltd., and UBS (Cay) Select Prime Institutional Fund Ltd.... The funds are expected to launch in May 2009."
