Bill Ackman, founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, attends the Milken Conference 2025 in Beverly Hills, Calif., on May 6, 2025. REUTERS/Mike Blake
Merging mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could turn out to be highly beneficial in terms of lower mortgage rates for Americans while lowering costs for the federal government, hedge fund manager Bill Ackman said in an Aug. 10 X post.
“A merger would enable them to achieve huge synergies both in their operations and in the trading price and spreads of their MBS, savings which could be passed along to consumers in the form of reduced mortgage rates,” Ackman said. MBS refers to mortgage-backed securities, which are investments in home loans and other real estate debt.
