Shares of Irvine-based Standard Pacific Corp. plunged Friday after a report said the homebuilder hired a restructuring and bankruptcy specialist.
TheStreet.com cited a report from Debtwire that said Standard hired New York-based Miller Buckfire as an adviser. Debtwire cited an unnamed source. No other details were given.
The homebuilder’s shares fell as much as nearly 40% on the news and were down about 20% near the close of New York trading. Standard has a market value of $150 million.
Miller Buckfire advises companies on mergers and acquisitions, restructuring, debt or privately-placed financing and bankruptcy. It currently is working with Irvine’s Hines Horticulture Inc. on strategic alternatives and Kansas City-based Interstate Bakeries Inc. on bankruptcy filing.
Standard Pacific, the country’s 11th-largest homebuilder, builds in once-hot housing markets California and Florida. It’s seen its shares drop off 90% for the year, making it the worse-performing stock of any major homebuilder in 2007.
The company,which cracked the Fortune 500 list for the first time in 2006,has seen its market value fall from more than $3 billion at its peak in mid-2005.
Bankruptcy talk has hovered over Standard. A sell-off by one of its biggest institutional investors, debt concerns and ongoing jitters in the mortgage market has added more fuel to analyst speculation that a filing could be in the cards for the company.
Earlier this month, the company said it was pulling out of the southern Arizona homebuilding market.
Miramonte Home is buying Standard Pacific’s assets in the Tucson region.
It also recently said it would exit the San Antonio market, selling off its assets there.
