Clayton Takes Impairment Charge

Clayton Holdings, a provider of information and analytics to lenders, mortgage servicers, and the capital markets, says it expects to take a pretax impairment charge of $75 million to $100 million in the fourth quarter.Clayton said the noncash charge will reflect the reduced carrying charge of goodwill, intangible assets, and other long-lived assets of its transaction management business. Frank Filipps, chairman and chief executive officer of Clayton, said the steep decline in new nonconforming mortgage securities issuance has "significantly reduced our transaction management revenues." He noted that industry projections suggest that the issuance of private-label mortgage-backed securities will remain depressed "throughout much of 2008 and possibly into 2009." Clayton's services include due-diligence analytics, conduit support services, professional staffing, compliance products and services, credit risk management and surveillance, and specialized loan servicing. Clayton Holdings can be found online at http://www.clayton.com.