Accredited hires ex-Bear Stearns unit president

NEW YORK, June 6 (Reuters) - Subprime mortgage company Accredited Home Lenders (AHHAP.PK) has named Jeff Walton, previously head of Bear Stearns & Co Inc's mortgage origination lending business, as its chief executive.

Accredited Home's parent, private equity firm Lone Star Funds, last month bought "certain operating assets" of the business Walton used to head up, Bear Stearns Residential Mortgage Corp.

Walton replaces Jim Moran, interim chief executive since February.

This week, Accredited Home consolidated operations centers to its San Diego headquarters, closing other offices and firing workers, according to sources on Thursday. The company was bought by private equity firm Lone Star Funds in October.

Bear Stearns, which was forced in March to ask JPMorgan & Chase Co (JPM.N) to acquire it at a rock-bottom price, prospered thanks to the business of repackaging mortgages into securities during the housing boom. But like other Wall Street firms, it also suffered as the housing boom imploded on falling sales and rising default rates. (Reporting by Elinor Comlay; Editing by Andre Grenon)