SEC Division of Investment Management staff letter: Salomon Brothers, Inc.

212 344-0600
CABLE CLEARGOLAW
TELEX
WUI 62985
RCA 235438
FACSIMII.E
TELEc0PIERGPS 1/2/3 212 480-0152 RAPIFAX 212 483-1361 FAX GP2 2I2 344 0925 Attention Thomas Lemke Chief Counsel Division of Investment Management Re Salomon Brothers Inc Dear Sirs Salomon Brothers Inc Salomon proposes to pro vide financial services in connection with the establishment of trust the Trust for the purpose of issuing partici pation certificates the Certificates evidencing frac tional undivided interests in real estate mortgages the interest on which is exempt from Federal income tax Salomon believes that such real estate interests exist in the form of industrial development bonds and other obliga tions the Mortgage Bonds secured at the time of their issuance by purchase money mortgages or deeds of trust on real estate The Mortgage Bonds will be purchased from one or more institutional lenders collectively the Institutional Lender which acquired the Mortgage Bonds under circum stances that according to legal opinions rendered at the time of such transactions did not require registration CLEARY GOTTLIEB STEEN HAMILTON ONE STATE STREET PLAZA NEW YORK N.Y 10004 CR c44 14Y MAN R.3MINO M.XRR MARK PRAWLEY JR GERGE 05 SIPIO ANDRE NEWBURG JAMES BLAIR %LTER ROTHSCHILD .RD PUGH OE WEISZ HA000RT STILES ...-IEYM.CONE.m ALAN APPELBAUM EDWIN MISHKIN GEORGE COHEN STEPHEN L.DINCES ..J.SPEED CARROLL PETER PAINE.JR ANTHONY 000CH ROGER W.THOMAS ALBERT PERGAM GEORGE .1 ORUMBACHJR PETER KARASZ LOUIS KAHN MARK WALKER LESLIE SAMUELS ALLAN SPERLNG PETER GAPROW JAMES MUMSELL SANDRA WEIKSNER EVAN DAVIS WEBB MON 12 MARIETTA POERIO ALAN DUNNING CHRISTOPHER LUNDINO LAURENT ALPERT BARRY M.FOX pt JUDITH RIPPS VICTOR LEWKOW LESLIE SILVERMAN RICHARD SUSKO STEPHEN SHALEN RICHARD ZIEGLER JAMES PEASLEE ALAN SELLER THOMAS .1 MOLONEY DAVID BABEL EDWARD KLEINBARD ReSIDENT PARTNERS Securities and Exchange Cæthission Investment Company Act of 1940/3c GEORGE CLEARY 1690- 19611 FOWLER HAMILTON lOll -1954 LEO GOTTLIEB MELVIN STEEN GEORGE BALL LYMAN TOMDEL.JR JAMES JOHNSON JR COUNSEL 1752 STREET N.W WASHINGTON D.C 00030 202 725-2700 TELEX 440507 FAX OPS 513 lOll 409.0542 FAX 003 /0/3 lOll 420-0046 41.AVENUE CE FRIEDLAND 75008 PARIS FRANCE 1-563-1494 TELEX 650021 FAX GPO 1-563-6637 FAX 0P3I 18633509 RUE DE LA LQI 23 STE 1040 BRUSSELS BELGIUM 2-030-2020 TELEX 22935 FAX GPO 12301635 FAX SF3 0-630-0006 WINCHESTER HOUSE M_tco4zPrIoA.ENO 77 LONDON WALL LAND TELEX 67659 .i-C-ft -4 -.- f\ I0iCCNOUSC$TRCET TELEX 00401 FAX 003 1-101100 Aor1 17 Judiciary Plaza 450 Fifth Street N.W Washington D.C 20549 -- ---- __________

Securities and Exchange Commission under the Securities Act of 1933 as amended The Mortgage Bonds will be purchased from the Institutional Lender by Salomon or special purpose corporation wholly-owned by Salomon or its parent the Grantor in any case acting as principal which will in turn serve as sponsor of the Trust and assign the Mortgage Bonds contemporaneously to the Trust The Trust will enter into an agreement the Backup Purchase Agreement with special purpose corpora tion the Backup Purchaser which is an affiliate of the Institutional Lender pursuant to which the Backup Purchaser will irrevocably agree to purchase from the Trust any Mort gage Bonds as to which there occurs default in the payment when due of principal or interest which is not cured through payment in full within 90 days after the payment was due The purchase price would be calculated pursuant to the Backup Purchase Agreement to be that price which would provide yield to the holders of the Certificates equal to the yield at which the Certificates were originally offered to the public Timely payment of amounts due from the Backup Purchaser under the Backup Purchase Agreement will be guar anteed by surety bond the Surety Bond to be purchased by the Backup Purchaser from an insurance company the Surety which may be the Institutional Lender or an af Eiliated corporation The Surety Bond will be issued to the independent trustee the Trustee of the Trust for the benefit of the holders from time to time of the Certifi cates On behalf of Salomon we respectfully request that the staff of the Division of Investment Management advise us that it will not recommend that the Commission take enforce ment action if the Trust issues the Certificates without registering under the Investment Company Act of 1940 as amended the 1940 Act Description of the Proposed Transaction Proceeds from the sale of the Certificates will be used by the Trust to purchase the Mortgage Bonds from the Grantor contemporaneously with the delivery of the Certifi cates and to pay various costs of issuance including legal fees and costs of distribution The Mortgage Bonds will bear interest at fixed rate Interest on the Mortgage Bonds will be paid either monthly or semiannually In all

Securities and Exchange Commission cases interest on the Mortgage Bonds will at the time of the issuance of the Certificates be exempt from Federal income tax according to legal opinions rendered at the time the Mortgage Bonds were issued Each Certificate will entitle its holder to cash distribution payable either monthly or semiannually of the pro rata share of all payments of principal of and interest on the Mortgage Bonds held by the Trust and the pro rata share of all amounts received by the Trust from the Backup Purchaser or under the Surety Bond upon the purchase of defaulted Mortgage Bonds pursuant to the Backup Purchase Agreement less fees and expenses of the Trustee and fees of the servicer of the Mortgage Bonds which will be the Insti tutional Lender or its affiliate all as described below Such distributions will be exempt from Federal income tax to the same extent as interest on the respective Mortgage Bonds held by the Trust The Certificates will be sold to inves tors at price equal to specified percentage of the unpaid principal amount of the Mortgage Bonds to be deter mined by Salomon based on market conditions at the time of sale plus accrued interest on the Mortgage Bonds Under the Backup Purchase Agreement between the Trust and the Backup Purchaser the Backup Purchaser will irrevocably agree to purchase from the Trust any Mortgage Bonds as to which there occurs default in the payment when due of principal or interest which is not cured through payment in full within 90 days after the payment was due The purchase price would be calculated pursuant to the Backup Purchase Agreement to be that price which would provide yield to the holders of the Certificates equal to the yield at which the Certificates were originally offered to the public In addition the Surety Bond to be purchased by the Backup Purchaser from the Surety will be in an amount sufficient to provide for the payment of the Backup Pur chasers obligations in connection with the purchase of defaulted Mortgage Bonds pursuant to the Backup Purchase Agreement The Backup Purchase Agreement and the Surety Bond will eliminate the need for prospective investors to investigate in detail the adequacy of the assets securing the Mortgage Bonds or the financial condition of the indi vidual companies which use the facilities financed with the proceeds of the Mortgage Bonds The Trust will be passive trust created by the Grantor solely to hold the Mortgage Bonds on behalf of the holders of the Certificates The Trustee will not invest

Securities and Exchange Commission any Trust assets other than the short-term investment pend ing distribution to holders of Certificates of payments received on the Mortgage Bonds No Mortgage Bonds will be sold from added to or withdrawn from the Trust after the Certificates are issued except for Mortgage Bonds purchased by the Backup Purchaser on default as described above and certain Mortgage Bonds which the Trustee of the Trust will be instructed to tender for purchase as described below The Certificates will not be redeemable either at the option of the Certificateholders or the Trust and the Certificateholders will have no right to require the Trust the Backup Purchaser or the Surety to purchase any Certifi cates The Mortgage Bonds generally contain no provision for redemption or purchase at the option of the holder thereof In those few cases where the Mortgage Bonds con tain such provisions the Trustee will be instructed at the time of the establishment of the Trust to tender such Mort gage Bonds for redemption or purchase at the earliest date on which it may do so in accordance with the terms of the Mortgage Bonds In the event of the redemption of any of the Mortgage Bonds or the purchase of any Mortgage Bonds by the Backup Purchaser pursuant to the Backup Purchase Agree ment any amounts received by the Trust will be distributed on pro rata basis to the Certificateholders and be cred ited against the unpaid principal amount of the Certifi cates The Institutional Lender or its affiliate will continue to service the Mortgage Bonds pursuant to servic ing agreement with the Trust providing for fixed servicing fees which will be agreed upon at the time of the establish ment of the Trust The Trustee will have authority to sub stitute another servicer if the Institutional Lender or its affiliate as the case may be defaults under the servicing agreement The Grantor will realize profit or sustain loss resulting from the difference between the purchase price paid to the Institutional Lender for the Mortgage Bonds and the cost of the Mortgage Bonds to the Trust In addition the Trust may pay to Salomon fixed percentage of the outstanding principal amount of the Mortgage Bonds held by the Trust as fee for Salomons services in connection with the establishment of the Trust and selling the Certifi cates to investors

Securities and Exchange Commission Exemption of the Trust prom Registration under the 1940 Act Each of the Mortgage Bonds will be primarily se cured by purchase money mortgages or deeds of trust on real property acquired or developed with the proceeds of the Mortgage Bonds and had loan to value ratio at the time the Mortgage Bonds were issued of not more than 100 percent At least 55 percent of the Mortgage Bonds by principal amount will be secured at the date of their issuance and at the date of issuance of the Certificates exclusively by interests in real estate Such Mortgage Bonds will repre sent the entire outstanding issue of one or more issues of Mortgage Bonds In those cases where the mortgages or deeds of trust securing the Mortgage Bonds run to an indenture trustee for the benefit of the holders from time to time of the Mortgage Bonds the Trust will have the right as the holder of the entire issue of such bonds to direct the indenture trustee to foreclose on the real property covered by such mortgages or deeds of trust In all other cases the mortgages or deeds of trust securing the Mortgage Bonds will be assigned and title to such mortgages transferred to the Trustee who will have the right to foreclose on the real property subject to such mortgages or deeds of trust The Mortgage Bonds will not be readily tradable in any currently-existing secondary market In our opinion the Trust will be excluded from the definition of an investment company by reason of Section 3c5C of the 1940 Act which exempts from the defini tion of investment company any company that is not en gaged in the business of issuing redeemable securities face amount certificates of the installment type or periodic payment plan certificates and that is primarily engaged in purchasing or otherwise acquiring mortgages and other liens on and interests in real estate See generally Shearson Lehman/American Express Inc pub avail March 25 1985 McDonald Company Securities Inc pub avail Dec 14 1983 Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner Smith Inc pub avail Nov 1981 In similar context the staff has taken the position that an issuer is exempt under Section 3c5C if at least 55 percent by principal amount of an issuers assets constitute mortgages and other liens on and interests in real estate See Shearson Lehman/American Express Inc pub avail March 25 1985 Salomon Brothers Mortgage Securities Inc pub avail Nov 1983

Securities and Exchange Commission We are also of the view that the Trust will not be exigaged in the business of issuing redeemable securitiest that would render the Section 3c5C exemption unavail able See generally Shearson Lehman/American Express Inc pub avail March 25 1985 McDonald Company Securities Inc pub avail Dec 14 1983 Section 2a32 of the Act defines redeemable security as any security other than short-term paper under the terms of which the holder upon its presentation to the issuer or to person desig nated by the issuer is entitled to receive approxi mately his proportionate share of the issuers current net assets or the cash equivalent thereof There will be no obligation on the part of the Trust or any one designated by the Trust as acting on its behalf to purchase any Certificates whether on demand of the holders thereof or otherwise Any amounts received by the Trust upon redemption of any of the Mortgage Bonds or purchase of any Mortgage Bonds by the Backup Purchaser pur suant to the Backup Purchase Agreement will be distributed pro rata to the holders of the Certificates and not used to redeem Certificates On the basis of the foregoing we respectfully request that the staff of the Division of Investment Manage ment advise us that it will not recommend that the Commis sion take enforcement action if the Trust issues the Certif icates without registering under the 1940 Act Salomon would like to proceed with the offering of the Certificates at the earliest possible time and would therefore appreciate your earliest consideration of this matter If further clarification is requested please call Alan Appelbaum or Richard Lincer of this firm at 212 344-0600 Very truly yours CLEARY STEEN HANILTON

MAY 1985
Our Ref No 85189
RESIONSE OF THE OFFICE OF CHIEF COUNSEL Salomon Brothers Inc DIVISION OF INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT File No 132-3 We would not reccrrend that the Carinission take any enforcement action under the Investment Ccxnpany Act of 1940 1940 Act against Salcenon Brothers Inc or the Trust if in reliance upon your opinion as counsel that the Trust is excepted fran the definition of investment company by section 3c of the 1940 Act the Trust does not register under the 1940 Act Our position is based upon the facts and representations contained in your letter of April 17 1985 specifically that at least 55% of the Trusts assets will be invested in Mortgage Bonds representing the entire outstanding issue of one or nre issues of Mortgage Bonds and the oral representation made to me on May 10 1985 to the effect that the remaining 45% of the Trusts assets will be invested primarily in real estatetype interests Because this position is based both upon the representations made to the Division in your letter and upon your oral representation you should note that any different facts or conditions might require different conclusion Further this response only expresses the Divisions position on enforcement action and it does not purport to express any legal or interpretive conclusion on the questions presented 4JJ7 Gerald Lins Attorney