Bank of America Corp., facing demands from institutional investors that it buy back billions of dollars in soured mortgages, said some bondholders will delay action as it conducts “constructive” talks.
Owners of some bonds linked to home loans created by Bank of America’s Countrywide Financial Corp. agreed to extend deadlines set in an Oct. 18 letter, the lender said yesterday in a statement, without identifying the holders. Pacific Investment Management Co., BlackRock Inc. and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York were among investors demanding that the bank repurchase loans packaged into $47 billion of bonds, people familiar with the letter said in October.
“The reason why settlement is a much-preferred alternative to litigation is to avoid extensive discovery,” said Manal Mehta, a co-founder of hedge fund Branch Hill Capital in San Francisco, which has bet against Bank of America shares and on those of bond insurers battling with the company over soured mortgages. “Who knows what sorts of skeletons lurk in the closets of Countrywide?”
Chief Executive Officer Brian T. Moynihan said in November the bank would engage in “hand-to-hand combat” to fend off unwarranted buyback demands from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as bond insurers and private investors who want to return loans. Pending putback claims rose to $12.9 billion by Sept. 30 from $7.7 billion at the end of 2009, the lender has said.
....
The October letter and related deadline are tied to the bank’s practices in managing, or servicing, mortgages. After notifying Bank of America of alleged servicing flaws, investors can after 60 days demand that BNY Mellon declare the bank in default of its servicing contract.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-15/bank-of-america-says-investors-agree-to-extend-mortgage-dispute-deadlines.html