Thornburg Won't Appeal NYSE Delisting

Thornburg Mortgage of Santa Fe, once a top ranked jumbo lender, said it will not appeal a decision by the New York Stock Exchange to delist the company. It's expected that Thornburg will be officially kicked off the NYSE before the market opens on this Friday. The company - whose shares trade for about 25 cents compared to a 52-week high of $140 - will trade, instead, on the OTC Bulletin Board or "pink sheets." In a recent interview with National Mortgage News, company CEO Larry Goldstone said TM has "four to five months" to find alternative financing for its $21 billion portfolio. TM no longer funds new loans. In the third quarter the company posted a net profit of $140 million but only because the value of some of its liabilities fell. Mr. Goldstone said TM - which as of September 30 had just 300 delinquent loans - "is seeing a noticeable increase in our defaults." The interview took place in late November. The publicly traded REIT narrowly escaped bankruptcy in April thanks to a new fundraising plan and a renegotiation of its bank lines.