Former Freddie CEO Parseghian May Get PHH Board Seat

Pennant Capital Management, the largest shareholder in PHH Corp., Mt. Laurel, N.J., is seeking to install former Freddie Mac CEO Greg Parseghian and another candidate on the lender's board.In a new public filing Pennant, a hedge fund, says it wants Mr. Parseghian and Allan Z. Loren elected as directors at the PHH annual meeting in June. A proxy filing is forthcoming. Mr. Loren is the former chairman of Dun & Bradsheet, a business information publisher. Mr. Parseghian left Freddie Mac under a cloud in the summer of 2003 in the midst of a $5 billion accounting scandal. An independent report said Mr. Parseghian, while serving as a Freddie Mac executive, approved accounting treatments for different transactions that had the effect of the GSE under-reporting earnings. It is unclear from the SEC filing what ties Messrs. Parseghian and Loren have to Pennant. A spokesman from Pennant did not return a telephone call. At press time PHH — the nation's 10th largest residential servicer — had no comment on the matter. Pennant owns 9.97% of PHH's common.