Proceeds will be used to meet working-capital requirements, to repurchase common stock, to refinance debt, or for general corporate purposes, filings show.

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The capital that earns a variable return--the equity, the common stock--is taxed twice.

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If a government recapitalisation does prove necessary, the treasury is likely to take one of two routes: a preferred-stock investment that allows the agencies to raise more capital of their own, or nationalisation through a common-equity injection that leaves current owners with nothing, and thus offers the taxpayer a better deal.

ECONOMIST: American finance