Merrill delays selling Bear Stearns assets - CNBC

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NEW YORK, June 18 (Reuters) - Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. MER.N plans to delay selling off some $400 million of assets seized from a hedge fund managed by Bear Stearns, CNBC said on Monday.

Merrill is delaying selling the assets until it hears the troubled hedge fund's plan to recapitalize, the network reported. Merrill and Bear are expected to discuss the plan on Monday or Tuesday, CNBC said.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday that Merrill, which is one of the fund's biggest lenders, had seized $400 million of assets from the Bear Stearns High-Grade Structured Credit Strategies Enhanced Leverage Fund. That fund was down 23 percent through April after suffering losses in investments in subprime mortgages, or home loans made to people with weak credit, the newspaper said.

Representatives from Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch were not immediately available for comment.

((Reporting by Dan Wilchins and Joseph Giannone, editing by Mark Porter; Reuters Messaging: dan.wilchins.reuters.com@reuters.net; +1 646 223 6320)) Keywords: MERRILLLYNCH BEARSTEARNS/

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