Freddie Mac execs sounding out private equity: report

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Executives at U.S. mortgage finance company Freddie Mac (FRE.N) are sounding out private-equity and other investors about buying its shares, although the effort faces a major hurdle, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

"Senior management has been talking with a wide array of possible investors this week," the report quoted Freddie Mac spokesman David Palombi as saying.

The report said the search for investors is challenged by fears that any investment in Freddie or its main rival, Fannie Mae (FNM.N), will be lost if the U.S. Treasury bails out the companies through a purchase of equity in them.

(Reporting by Ritsuko Ando; Editing by Braden Reddall)