Impac Suspends Alt-A Funding; Stock Plunges

Impac Mortgage Holdings has suspended originations of alternative-A loans -- a bread-and-butter product for the lender -- sending its stock down 40% in trading on Tuesday.Company chairman and chief executive Joseph Tomkinson also said the nondepository real estate investment trust has made all its "margin calls to date," adding that Impac "has negotiated sales of approximately $1.0 billion of our $1.6 billion of loans held on financed facilities." The loan sales are scheduled to close over the next 30 days. "In the interim, loans held in aggregate continue to generate a positive net interest spread," the California-based company said. Impac said that in response to the nonprime sector's liquidity crisis, it has suspended production of loans "previously referred to as alt-A loans." It will originate only mortgages that are eligible for sale to the government-sponsored enterprises. Impac is the nation's 15th-largest funder of alt-A loans, according to the Alternative Products Quarterly Data Report.