Impac Lost $2B in '07, Shifts NIMs to Survive

Impac Mortgage Holdings, Irvine, Calif., posted a net loss of $2 billion for 2007, compared with a $75 million loss the year before. Impac, a nondepository real estate investment trust that once specialized in alternative-A lending, is no longer funding new loans and is surviving off its servicing and master servicing portfolios. According to a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company, in an attempt to stave off its lenders, is transferring "certain net interest margin" certificates and subordinated bonds held on its balance sheet to satisfy "reverse repurchase agreements." In 2007 it took $1.4 billion in charges to cover loan losses. It also had real-estate-owned charges of $281 million. Impac's shares continue to trade on the New York Stock Exchange. At deadline time, its stock price stood at $1.20, compared with a 52-week low of $0.20 and a high of $6.75.