Warrant Auctions Raise Nearly $1.2 Billion for Treasury

The Treasury Department said it will receive a little more than $936 million from the sale of warrants it got from JPMorgan Chase & Co. when it provided that company with government aid through the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The Treasury held an auction on Thursday that established the price for the 88.4 million warrants at $10.75 each. The sale of the warrants is expected to close by Dec. 16.

The Treasury also held an auction last week for warrants issued by Capital One Financial Corp. as part of its participation in TARP. That sale raised $146.5 million.

JPMorgan Chase got $25 billion in public money through the Troubled Asset Relief Program in October 2008.  In return, it issued the government a special class of preferred stock, plus warrants to buy common stock.

JPMorgan repaid the TARP funds and retired the preferred stock in July. The redemption did not include the warrants, which have an exercise price of $42.42 a share, and expire in October 2018.

JPMorgan Chase's common stock closed Thursday at $41.27. Its shares hit a low of $14.96 on March 6.