Bailout bill won't benefit Fannie, Freddie investors

Bank of America Corp, JPMorgan Chase and Co, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Pacific Investment Management Co's Bill Gross are winners in the housing-bailout bill Congress passed last week.

Losers in the bill include shareholders of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, who may see their equity wiped out if the US Treasury uses its new authority to take over the government-sponsored companies. Fannie and Freddie shares have fallen more than 70 percent in New York Stock Exchange composite trading this year.

"This legislation has indicated to investors that Fannie and Freddie are not implicitly guaranteed, not explicitly guaranteed, but we're close to that point," said Gross, 64, who oversees the $128 billion Total Return Fund for Newport Beach, California-based Pimco. "We like it."