Impac Loss Due to Buybacks, Derivatives

Impac Mortgage Holdings, one of the nation's largest alt-A funders, posted a $121.7 million loss in the first quarter, citing market-to-market losses on derivatives and charges tied to large loan buyback requests.Over the past two quarters the publicly traded Impac has lost $181 million. The Irvine-based company signaled that it is moving "aggressively" on settling loan buyback requests tied to early payment defaults. "We have closely monitored our reverse repurchase facilities to manage our margin call exposure," said CEO Joe Tomkinson. The nation's 10th largest alt-A originator, Impac funded or bought $2.2 billion of product in the quarter, compared to $2.1 billion in the year ago quarter. (In the fourth quarter in bought and funded $4.1 billion.) In response to a declining market it also laid off 15% of its 800 staffers.