Florida Halts Withdrawals From Local Investment Fund (Update2)

By David Evans


Nov. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Florida officials voted to suspend withdrawals from an investment fund for schools and local governments after redemptions sparked by downgrades of debt held in the portfolio reduced assets by 44 percent.

The Local Government Investment Pool had $3.5 billion of withdrawals today alone, putting assets at $15 billion, said Coleman Stipanovich, executive director of the State Board of Administration, which manages the fund along with other short- term investments and the state's $137 billion pension fund.

``If we don't do something quickly, we're not going to have an investment pool,'' Stipanovich said at the meeting in the state capitol in Tallahassee. The fund was the largest of its kind, managing $27 billion before this month's withdrawals.

Local governments including Orange County and Pompano Beach that use the pool like a money-market fund asked for their money back after the State Board of Administration disclosed in a report earlier this month that holdings in the fund were lowered to below investment grade.

The board met today to consider ways to shore up the fund, including obtaining credit protection for $1.5 billion of downgraded and defaulted holdings hurt by the subprime market collapse. In voting for the suspensions, officials sought to stem the increasing flood of money leaving the pool and avoid losses on forced sales of assets.

`No Liquidity'

``We need to protect what is there in the interim,'' said Governor Charlie Crist, a Republican and one of three trustees of the State Board of Administration along with Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink and Attorney General Bill McCollum.

The fund has invested $2 billion in structured investment vehicles and other subprime-tainted debt, state records show. About 20 percent of the pool is in asset-backed commercial paper, Stipanovich said at the meeting today.

``There is no liquidity out there, there are no bids'' for those securities, he said.

Stipanovich raised the possibility of having the state pension fund shoulder the risk of some of the troubled securities with a credit-default swap, through which the retirement fund would guarantee the debt in exchange for an insurance premium.

``It will be a wonderful diversifier,'' Stipanovich said.

Sink immediately rejected the executive director's plan.

``We would, in effect, be bailing out one fund, to which we have no legal obligation, with the star fund of Florida, our pension fund,'' she said. ``I think we have to be very careful about transferring this risk into our pension fund.''

Exemptions Sought

The board also considered adopting a more conservative investment policy and taking steps to qualify for a top credit rating for the pool from Standard & Poor's.

The trustees discussed an exemption to the suspension in withdrawals that would allow cities and schools to take money from the pool to pay employees; it was rejected.

``It's not set up to pay payroll,'' Crist said.

Because the trustees' decision to freeze withdrawals was an oral vote, not based on approving a written document, it is possible exceptions will be made to allow municipalities to meet their payrolls, said State Board of Administration spokesman Mike McCauley.

``We're getting a lot of calls,'' McCauley said.

It wasn't decided how long the suspension would last. The trustees meet again on Dec. 4.

Paychecks Threatened

Hal Wilson, chief financial officer for the school district in Jefferson County, located 30 miles (42 kilometers) east of Tallahassee, said he had decided not to pull the district's $2.7 million from the fund. He said he relied on assurances from the state board that the money would be secure for his 1,559-student school system, with 220 employees.

``I might not be able to pay our employees tomorrow,'' he said, referring to his $850,000 payroll. ``I am sure that those money managers who withdrew all their funds are feeling really smug right now, thinking they did the right thing. But it left the rest of us holding the bag.''

The investment pool's debt holdings that were downgraded below its minimum standards amount to about 10 percent of the pool.

Default Ratings

The fund's $900 million of asset-backed commercial paper that was downgraded to default amounts to 6 percent of its assets. Another $650 million, or 4 percent, is invested in certificates of deposit at Countrywide Bank FSB, a unit of Countrywide Financial Corp. The bank's rating was cut to Baa1, three levels above junk, by Moody's on Aug. 16.

The pool owns $168 million of debt from KKR Atlantic Funding Trust cut to D, or default, from B by Fitch Ratings on Oct. 8. It also has $356 million issued by KKR Pacific Funding Trust, cut to D from B by Fitch Ratings on Oct. 2. Fitch said the cut to default on the debt reflected non-payment under the original terms. The debt was restructured to extend the maturities to February and March, and interest payments are continuing.

Florida's pool has $180 million of paper from Ottimo Funding, cut to D from C by S&P on Nov. 9. S&P said an auction of Ottimo's collateral ``did not generate cash proceeds'' to repay the asset-backed commercial paper.

The pool also holds $175 million of short-term debt issued by Axon Financial Funding, an SIV. It was cut to D from C by S&P this week. S&P said Axon failed to pay liabilities maturing Nov. 26, causing an ``automatic liquidation event.''

The pool was created in 1982 to provide higher short-term returns for local schools and governments than were available at banks. Today, Crist suggested the pool's time may have passed.

``It's a nice thing for us to be able to do if it's prudent,'' Crist told Stipanovich. ``I'm wondering if it's a good idea today.''