The New York Times - For Freddie Mac, the beleaguered mortgage finance giant that was desperately trying to avoid a government takeover, the moment of truth came three weeks ago.
In a last-ditch effort to raise money to offset billions of dollars of losses, Freddie’s chief executive, Richard F. Syron, traveled to New York to huddle with potential investors at the headquarters of Goldman Sachs and a law firm, Davis, Polk & Wardwell.
Over a couple of days, he and his lieutenants made their pitch — only to have every option rejected, people briefed on the discussions said.
Empty-handed and crestfallen, Mr. Syron canceled plans to join his family at their weekend home on Cape Cod and returned to Washington to deliver the bad news to Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr.: he still hadn’t found anyone willing to save Freddie Mac.
Mr. Paulson and a team at the Treasury had been working for months on plans to prop up both Freddie and its sister company, Fannie Mae, hoping they would never have to act. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/08/business/08takeover.html?ex=1378612800&en=6eef2eca18f4bb15&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
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