Legg Mason buys paper from money funds

October 7, 2008

Legg Mason Inc. bought asset-backed commercial paper from a non-U.S. money-market fund, allowing it to cancel $460 million in credit-support agreements. The purchases will have no effect on earnings, the Baltimore-based company said yesterday in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Legg Mason said it purchased an undisclosed amount of asset-backed commercial paper issued by Axon Financial Funding LLC and Gryphon Funding Ltd. from the Citi Institutional Liquidity Plc, an offshore money fund that is required to maintain a net asset value of $1 a share. Axon and Gryphon are investment funds that issued short-term debt to fund their investments. Legg Mason decided to pull the commercial paper out of the fund "in response to this turbulent market environment," spokeswoman Mary Athridge said in an e-mailed statement.

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