Fremont General Corp

Fremont General Corp., the former sub-prime lending giant that regulators forced out of the mortgage business last year, said Friday that it probably would seek bankruptcy protection to hasten its liquidation of assets. A Chapter 11 bankruptcy would enable Fremont General, the holding company for Brea-based industrial bank Fremont Investment & Loan, to sell its deposits, branches and mortgage-servicing rights without shareholder approval.

Regulators who forced Fremont General Corp. out of the sub-prime lending business last year have given the financial company until May 26 to find a buyer for its bank, Fremont Investment & Loan, or raise more capital, Fremont said Friday. Seeking to preserve the bank's dwindling capital, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. barred Fremont Investment from increasing compensation for officers and directors.

Fremont General Corp., whose loans to risky borrowers helped trigger the sub-prime mortgage crisis, said Ronald Nicolas had succeeded Patrick Lamb as finance chief. Santa Monica-based Fremont said Lamb resigned June 9.

Acquisition Pact: Santa Monica-based Fremont General Corp. revealed this week that it agreed to pay Tomar Financial Corp. $4.9 million in cash, the assumption of $1.3 million in debt and future considerations for the acquisition of two thrift and loans in Orange. The purchase price for Fresno-based Tomar, which owns Investors Thrift & Loan and Liberty Thrift & Loan, was listed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Fremont General Corp., the seventh-largest U.S. workers' compensation insurer, said it will pay $55 million for PacificAmerica Money Center Inc., expanding its home loan business. Santa Monica-based Fremont will pay 75% of the purchase price in cash and the rest in its own stock. The transaction values Woodland Hills-based PacificAmerica at $10 a share. PacificAmerica made $768 million in home mortgages last year through offices in 45 states.

Fremont General Corp., a Santa Monica-based insurer, said it will cut an additional 29% of its work force in a new effort to slash costs in response to price cutting in its workers' compensation business. Fremont said it will lay off 465 employees and close 16 of its 24 production and claim-servicing offices, cutting costs by about $55 million a year before taxes. The reductions bring total job losses at the company to 1,000, or 50% of its work force, since June 30.

Fremont General Corp., a Brea-based lender forced by regulators to exit the sub-prime mortgage business, agreed to sell the servicing rights on $1.9 billion of loans to hedge fund operator Carrington Capital Management. Fremont said the rights, sold for an undisclosed price, represented 13% of the mortgages serviced by Fremont. Carrington had already bought the loans from Fremont, the lender said. Fremont was the country's fifth-biggest lender to consumers with poor or limited credit until regulators forced it to stop making loans a year ago. The company said this week that it would delay an interest payment on $6.6 million of its debt as it negotiated with the principal holder of the debt.

Former sub-prime mortgage lender Fremont General Corp. said Tuesday that it was trying to restructure some of its debt and would delay making a $6.6-million payment during the negotiations. If payment is not made within a month, the Brea-based company could be declared in default on $169 million in senior notes that are due in a year.

Fremont General Corp., a Brea banking company that regulators forced out of the sub-prime mortgage business last year, said Tuesday that two purchasers of its loans had declared it to be in default, raising the possibility that they could put it out of business. Shares in the battered parent of Fremont Investment & Loan fell 24 cents, to 46 cents. The stock has fallen 96% from its 52-week high of $13.80. Fremont said it couldn't demonstrate it still had a net worth of $250 million, as it promised to do when it sold $3.15 billion in loans last March to the two buyers, which it didn't identify.

Sub-prime mortgage casualty Fremont General Corp. is getting new management after all, seven weeks after a bank turnaround specialist withdrew his offer to invest $80 million and lead a new executive team at the Santa Monica company. Fremont said Monday that its president and chief executive, Louis J. Rampino, and its executive vice president and chief operating officer, Wayne R. Bailey, had resigned.

Fremont General Corp. said third-quarter profit declined, but its shares soared 46% after the troubled savings and loan said it significantly reduced losses by selling residential real estate loans. Profit fell 38% to $18.3 million, or 23 cents a share, from $29.5 million, or 39 cents, a year earlier. Results reflected a $65.6-million gain from the July 2 sale of a $6.27-billion commercial real estate loan portfolio to IStar Financial Inc. for $1.

Santa Monica-based banking company and former sub-prime lender Fremont General Corp. broke off talks with an investment group led by billionaire Gerald J. Ford. In a statement, Fremont said it couldn't reach a new agreement with Ford after an accord reached this year collapsed. The company said it was "in discussions with potential new management teams" and would replace its chief executive and chief operating officer.

Fremont General Corp., the California thrift whose mortgage-lending arm was shut last week by U.S. bank regulators, said Tuesday that an appeals court had reinstated two 2004 lawsuits brought by the state's insurance commissioner. The California appeals court on Feb. 28 sent both cases back to a trial court in Los Angeles for further proceedings, Santa Monica-based Fremont said in a regulatory filing. The trial court dismissed the cases in 2005.

Fremont General Corp., a Santa Monica-based property and casualty insurer, said it will take $50 million in third-quarter charges to cover workers' compensation and asbestos-related claims. The charges are expected to cut the company's third-quarter per-share earnings by $1.07 a share. Analysts in a First Call Corp. survey expected the company to post third-quarter earnings per share of 50 cents.

A Fremont General Corp. shareholder seeking to take over the lender or have it put up for auction has retained a former Countrywide Financial Corp. executive to advance its efforts. Santa Monica-based Fremont is one of the 10 largest providers of sub-prime mortgages. Amalgamated Gadget, which owns 8.2% of Fremont's stock, said in a regulatory filing that it had engaged Nicholas Krsnich, a former Countrywide chief investment officer and chief financial officer of Countrywide Bank.

Morgan Stanley, the second-biggest U.S. securities firm, sued mortgage lender Fremont General Corp. for $10 million over its refusal to repurchase hundreds of bad home loans it sold. Loans purchased by Morgan Stanley Mortgage Capital Holdings from Fremont Investment & Loan in 2005 and 2006 misstated the borrowers' income, employment and assets, according to a complaint filed in federal court in New York. Fremont was forced to exit the sub-prime mortgage business after losing $1.