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Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Orange County: Bankrupt in '94, Now Invested in SIVs

by Calculated Risk on 12/05/2007 12:19:00 PM

From Bloomberg: Orange County Funds Hold SIV Debt on Moody's Review

Orange County, California, bankrupted in 1994 by bad bets on interest rates, bought structured investment vehicles similar to those that caused a run on funds invested by local governments in Florida.

Twenty percent, or $460 million, of the county's $2.3 billion Extended Fund is invested in so-called SIVs that may face credit-rating cuts, said Treasurer Chriss Street. ...

Orange County's money is invested in commercial paper under review by Moody's that was issued by Centauri Corp.'s CC USA Inc., Citigroup Inc.'s Five Finance Inc., Standard Chartered Plc.'s Whistlejacket Capital Ltd. and Tango Finance Corp., according to Rodenhuis.
It doesn't sound like Orange County will suffer any significant losses, but I doubt they will be investing in any more SIV asset backed commercial paper.