Shareholders of the Reserve U.S. Government Fund now have the U.S. government standing behind their shares. On Thursday the U.S. Treasury revealed that it will act as 'buyer of last resort' for the remaining, non-liquidated assets of the money market fund, putting up to $5.6 billion (from the exchange stabilization fund) where their mouth is to make sure liquidation NAV is $1 if the fund can't generate the necessary cash on in its own within the next 45 days.

For the full story on the the death of the Reserve and its Primary Fund, see MFWire's timeline.

The Reserve already started distributing $4.5 billion from the shuttered Government Fund last week (see MFWire, November 14, 2008), while shareholders of the Reserve Primary Fund that broke the buck in September have received $26 billion and await about $25 billion more (see MFWire, October 31, 2008).

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Press Release

Washington- The U.S. Treasury Department announced today that it agreed to assist with the liquidation of The Reserve Fund's U.S. Government Fund, due to unique and extraordinary circumstances.

The fund, which Treasury accepted into its temporary guarantee program for money market funds, has not made a claim to Treasury under the program. In a separate agreement with the fund, the Treasury has agreed to serve as a buyer of last resort for the fund's securities, which consist of short-term U.S. government and government sponsored enterprise securities.

This action is being taken to ensure that the fund is liquidated in an orderly and timely fashion.

The agreement grants the fund a 45-day period where it will continue to sell assets at or above their amortized cost. At the conclusion of this period, Treasury's Exchange Stabilization Fund will purchase any remaining securities at amortized cost, up to an amount required to ensure that each shareholder receives $1 for every share they own.

This extraordinary action is in response to the unique situation of the money market fund. This fund was permitted to suspend share redemptions as of September 17, in accordance with an order issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

No other funds participating in Treasury's temporary guarantee program received a similar order from the SEC. Because of this, Treasury does not foresee a need to take similar actions with regard to any other funds participating in Treasury's temporary guarantee program.

Treasury's agreement with the fund requires the fund's adviser and its trustees to waive their fees accrued after November 19 to the extent that fund shareholders do not receive distributions of $1 per share. 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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