GMAC Bids Problem Mortgage Assets

GMAC Financial Services has auctioned off $250 million of problem mortgage assets, using Citigroup as its broker on the deal. A spokeswoman for GMAC said the bid process "went very" well but at press time no other details were available on the process including information about bidders and what they offered. The spokeswoman said, "Our plan is to continue to sell assets through the year in our normal course of business and as we have done historically." She added, "We are not interested in pursuing transactions that don't have the right economic value." GMAC and its mortgage division, Residential Capital Corp., are saddled with billions of dollars of troubled non-prime loans and securities. One investor involved in the bid process said he passed on making an offer on the pool "because they wanted us to bid based on 2008 appraisals that they did." He said he was not allowed to take a hard look at current values on the underlying assets. "We will not bid on assets without the ability to determine the underlying value." This investor, requesting anonymity, said many large sellers are operating in a fashion similar to GMAC.