by Calculated Risk on 6/20/2007 04:29:00 PM

From Dow Jones: Results From Sale Of Bear Assets May Not Be Clear On Wed (hat tip Brian)

While the deadline for a sale of Bear Stearns' ... hedge funds assets is not far, the results from the sale may not be clear until much later.

... Merrill Lynch & Co. (MER), which is circulating its list of $850 million of mostly highly-rated complex securities, may not be met...

That's because the securities - mostly collateralized debt obligations - on the auction block are extremely complicated, and it will take investors some time to assign what they believe is a fair value to these assets.

"At least a third of what is being shown is pretty esoteric stuff," said [Mark Adelson, managing director of fixed income research at Nomura Securities.] The bulk of collateral appearing on the bid lists are CDOs that are backed by a pool of mortgage bonds, and CDO squareds, which are CDOs of CDOs, similar in concept to a fund of funds, market participants said.