BlackRock Inc. on Tuesday began to solicit interest for more than $100 billion in assets seized last month from the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.
The first list, a roughly $292 million parcel of agency mortgage-backed securities with coupons of about 2.5% to 3%, rolled out before noon Eastern time, according Empirasign, a platform that tracks trading activity in mortgage bonds and securitized products.
Sales of the assets are expected to emerge in increments, rather than hitting the market all at once and potentially causing more volatility in financial markets.
BlackRock’s financial markets advisory arm was hired in early April by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to market the securities for sale from the two failed banks. It didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The assets for sale include agency mortgage-backed securities, commercial mortgage-backed securities, Treasurys, corporate bonds and other securities created in an ultralow rate environment. While many of the seized assets from SVB and Signature come with government guarantees, lower coupon bonds have come under sharp pressure in the past year as the Federal Reserve has dramatically hiked interest rates.
