Toxic assets program gets under way

The U.S. Treasury kicked off the Public-Private Investment Program Wednesday, naming nine companies to serve as asset managers.

The nine companies have 12 weeks to raise $500 million from private investors in anticipation of an auction of troubled bank assets. The federal government is investing $30 billion in the program designed to take toxic assets off of banks’ books, which in turn will allow banks to increase lending.

The intent is to use public and private capital to buy $500 billion in toxic assets and perhaps double that amount, CNNMoney.com reported Wednesday.

In effect, regulators hope to create a market for assets that have fallen in value and have, as such, become stuck in bank ledgers.

The nine firms named as asset managers are BlackRock, AllianceBernstein, Oaktree Capital Management, Invesco, Angelo, Gordon & Co., Marathon Asset Management, RLJ Western Asset Management, The TCW Group and Wellington Management Co., CNNMoney.com reported.