Thornburg Mortgage plunges on bankruptcy worry

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Thornburg Mortgage Inc TMA.N said on Monday it has failed to meet a surge in margin calls, raising concern the jumbo mortgage lender might file for bankruptcy and causing its shares to fall by more than half.

Thornburg said it has faced $270 million of margin calls since Feb 27, on top of more than $300 million in the prior two weeks.

The company said it was able to meet the earlier calls but could not meet a "substantial majority" of the new calls because of "limited available liquidity." Margin calls force borrowers to pay back loans or post more collateral.

Shares of Thornburg fell $5.26, or 59 percent, to $3.64 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Santa Fe, New Mexico-based Thornburg said it is trying to sell securities, offer debt or raise capital to bolster liquidity. It also said its failure to meet a $28 million call caused one lender to declare a default, and that more failures could materially hurt its ability to operate normally.

"Thornburg will have to sell assets in a distressed market or raise equity capital to meet margin calls," wrote Donald Fandetti, an analyst at Citigroup Global Markets. "Failure to complete either of these two could put Thornburg at risk of bankruptcy."

Fandetti downgraded Thornburg to "sell" from "hold." He expects the company to suspend the quarterly dividend of 25 cents per share it reinstituted in December. Credit Suisse analyst Moshe Orenbuch downgraded Thornburg to "underperform" from "neutral."

Thornburg did not immediately return requests for comment.

In a statement, Chief Executive Larry Goldstone said, "Although this is a difficult time for the company, we are working diligently to satisfy all of our lenders as soon as possible and return to financial stability."

JUMBO TROUBLES

Thornburg has suffered as the housing slump and tight credit conditions caused investors to stop buying many securities they no longer consider safe, including the higher-rated mortgages above $417,000 in which Thornburg specializes.

The company said failure to meet further margin calls could lead to more defaults and liquidations, causing a "material adverse effect on the company's ability to continue its business in the current manner."

On February 28, Thornburg said the earlier margin calls related to $2.9 billion of securities backed by below-prime "Alt-A" mortgages that fell quickly in value. It said these became less liquid after Swiss bank UBS AG (UBSN.VX) on February 14 announced a $2 billion write-down on $26.6 billion of Alt-A exposure.

Thornburg ended 2007 with $35.4 billion of adjustable-rate mortgages on its balance sheet. It lost $1.08 billion in last year's third quarter as it scrambled to sell $21.9 billion of home loans, but posted a $64.8 million fourth-quarter profit.

In January, Legg Mason Capital Management reported a 9.08 percent stake in Thornburg, while real estate and energy investor Richard Rainwater disclosed a 5.5 percent stake.

Shares of other mortgage companies also fell in afternoon trading.

IndyMac Bancorp Inc IMB.N dropped nearly 20 percent after the lender said delinquencies and foreclosures rose in January while loan volume fell. Deerfield Capital Corp DFR.N fell 52 percent after the investment company said it lost $152.9 million from the sale of $1.3 billion of "triple-A" rated residential mortgage-backed securities from January 1 to February 15.

(Editing by Dave Zimmerman and John Wallace)