Fieldstone Suit Settled

The settlement of shareholder litigation by Fieldstone Investment Corp., Columbia, Md., will ease the way for its acquisition by C-BASS.The former shareholders had filed suit over the price paid by Fieldstone to redeem their shares following the close of its Rule 144A equity offering in 2003. It will pay the former shareholders $10.6 million in total. The settlement removed a potential $0.20 reduction in the per-share price C-BASS could have demanded relating to this litigation. Thus C-BASS, which is currently majority-owned by MGIC and Radian (whose own merger will force them to reduce their equity stake in the company), will pay the agreed-to price of $5.53 per share for Fieldstone.