Brea-based Fremont General Corp. says it’s running low on cash and is considering putting itself up for sale.
The holding company for Fremont Investment & Loan, once one of the country’s largest subprime home lenders, is working with Credit Suisse and Sandler O’Neil & Partners LP on possible financing.
Chief Executive Stephen Gordon has been trying to turn around the company since he was hired last November.
After ending 2007 with $21 million in cash, the company says it has a “significant liquidity risk.”
More write-downs may be coming for Fremont, which has $8.8 billion in assets, it said in a press release.
Otions include raising capital, restructuring debt and seeking buyers.
Last October Texas billionaire investor Gerald J. Ford considered investing $80 million in the company but pulled out.
The company said it had to hold off on interest payments for its junior subordinated debt, but that it won’t be enough to fix its problem.
The company’s stock closed Thursday’s trading with a market value of
$187 million.
Earlier in the month the company moved its headquarters from Santa Monica to Brea.
