WSJ "Bent Had Deal Hope"
Saturday's Wall Street Journal writes "Bent Had Deal Hope". It says, "Eight months before the collapse of the $62 billion Reserve Primary money-market mutual fund in 2008, its owners were exploring a sale, co-manager Bruce Bent Sr. disclosed in testimony during his civil trial in federal court on Friday. Mr. Bent, the chairman of Reserve Management Co., Reserve Primary's parent company, said he and his son, co-manager Bruce Bent II, had been shopping the company around in early 2008. Court documents showed that at least two dozen buyers showed interest, including Federated Investors Inc. and Bank of New York Mellon Corp.... A deal never happened, and by September 2008, the company was in trouble.... The Securities and Exchange Commission sued the Bents in 2009, alleging they lied to investors about whether they intended to shore up the fund to keep it from "breaking the buck," or falling below the $1 a share net asset value that money funds try to maintain. The trial began Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The Bents have denied the allegations. The trial is expected to last at least two more weeks."
