Origination

IndyMac Bancorp Inc., Pasadena, Calif., has filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 7 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California. The company made the announcement in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. John Bovenzi, chief executive of IndyMac Federal Bank FSB, the conservatorship created when the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. seized the thrift, put out a statement saying, "The announcement by the former holding company of IndyMac Bank has no impact on IndyMac Federal Bank or its customers. Our customers will continue to receive the same value and personal service they have come to expect from IndyMac, which, due to its FDIC backing is one of the safest banks in America and a great place for our customers to keep their funds." Fitch Ratings downgraded IndyMac Bancorp's Issuer Default Rating to D and said it would withdraw its ratings of the company in 30 days. IndyMac can be found online at http://www.indymacbank.com.

Twenty-five classes from two Hometown Commercial Capital Trust commercial small-balance transactions have been downgraded and removed from Rating Watch Negative by Fitch Ratings. Fitch also assigned Distressed Recovery ratings to the 25 classes and affirmed the ratings on two classes from the two commercial mortgage-backed securities deals, Hometown Commercial Capital Trust 2006-1 and 2007-1. The downgrades were attributed to expected losses on loans in special servicing and "a large concentration of loans that Fitch has identified as loans of concern."

The California commercial loan delinquency ratio tripled in the second quarter, but the rate remained at a near-record low of 0.06%, according to the California Mortgage Bankers Association. The Quarterly Commercial Loan Delinquency Survey found that only seven loans were more than 30 days delinquent, representing $53.9 million of a $96.1 billion servicing portfolio. This represents a delinquency ratio of 0.06%, compared with 0.03% a year ago. Fifteen of the 17 commercial mortgage banking firms reported no loans more than 30 days delinquent. For survey purposes, a loan is considered delinquent if it is two or more payments past due, although loans in foreclosure are included regardless of the number of payments past due. The CMBA, based in Sacramento, can be found online at http://www.cmba.com.

The rating outlook for UCBH Holdings Inc. and its bank subsidiary has been revised from Stable to Negative by Fitch Ratings, largely as a result of problem assets in its construction loan portfolio. Fitch also affirmed the long-term Issuer Default Ratings of UCBH and United Commercial Bank at BBB and the short-term IDRs of the pair at F2. "Given the company's significant exposure to construction loans and its concentration in California, Fitch anticipates that it is unlikely that credit quality will return to more normalized levels in the near term," the rating agency said. Fitch can be found online at http://www.fitchratings.com.

SCI Capital Group, Los Angeles, has announced the closing of a mezzanine fund focused on the development and acquisition of real estate. The fund, SCICG Mezzanine Fund I LLC, received capital commitments exceeding its initial $10 million offering. The company said the fund will provide short-term secured loans to SCI affiliates for real estate development and the acquisition of developed real estate. SCI Capital can be found on the Web at http://www.scicapitalgroup.com.

Origen Financial Inc., a real estate investment trust that had been a major lender and servicer in the manufactured housing sector, has reported a net loss of $4.8 million ($0.19 per share) for the second quarter, compared with net income of $2.8 million ($0.11 per share) a year earlier. The company said that on July 31 it completed the sale of "certain assets of our origination and insurance business" to an affiliate of ManageAmerica, a provider of services to the manufactured housing industry. This followed the July 1 sale by Origen of its servicing operations and platform to Green Tree Servicing LLC. The company took in proceeds of $36.7 million from that transaction. Origen said its business model is now focused on managing residual interests in securitized manufactured housing loan portfolios. Origen can be found online at http://www.origenfinancial.com.

Minority borrowers, regardless of income level, are more likely to receive high-cost home mortgage loans than other consumers, according to a new report by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. The report says minorities pay more for mortgages even as their incomes levels rise, and that loan price disparities (with white counterparts) were more common for middle- to upper-income African-American and Hispanic borrowers than for low- and moderate-income minority borrowers. For example, middle- and upper-income African-Americans were at least twice as likely to receive high-cost loans in 2006 as whites with similar income in 155 (71.4%) of the metropolitan areas analyzed, the NCRC said. In comparison, low- and moderate-income black borrowers were at least twice as likely to receive high-cost loans as whites with similar income in 87 (47.3%) of the metro areas, according to the report. "The data reminds us that the current housing crisis was overwhelmingly the result of the explosion of bad loan products in financially vulnerable communities," said John Taylor, president and chief executive of the NCRC. "It is not surprising that foreclosures have been concentrated among African-Americans and Latinos, because predatory and problematic loans are more prevalent in those communities." The organization can be found online at http://www.ncrc.org.

Silver Gardens, an affordable housing developer based in Albuquerque, N.M., has partnered with nonprofit Enterprise Community Partners to participate in a "green housing" initiative to help low-income families benefit from carbon-offset-based homebuilding. Silver Gardens is the first in the nation to receive grant funding from ECP's new Enterprise Green Communities Offset Fund. "Enterprise's goal for the fund is to create a new resource for green affordable housing and demonstrate how the carbon markets can and must deliver benefits to low-income people," said Dana Bourland, senior director of the green communities initiative at ECP. The grant will be used to provide 119 rental units for families earning between $12,000 and $31,000 annually. Up to 90% of the apartments will rent for $278 to $739 a month. ECP said the green four-story building emits less carbon dioxide and requires 15%-20% less energy than projects using conventional green technology. Project co-developers include the Supportive Housing Coalition of New Mexico Inc. and Romero Rose LLC, the Albuquerque affiliate of Jonathan Rose Cos., an affordable housing developer.

The First American Corp., Santa Ana, Calif., is delaying the split of its financial services and information solutions businesses. The company had announced plans to spin off the financial services business into a new company that would have taken the First American name back in January. Parker S. Kennedy, chairman and chief executive of First American, said the company remains committed to doing the split. "We still firmly believe that splitting our businesses will unlock the unrealized value of the information solutions businesses and strengthen the competitive position of both companies," he said. "However, given the uncertainty in the real estate and mortgage credit markets, we believe it is prudent to delay the split. Our primary focus at this time is expense management, product development, and maximizing profitability." The announcement came in First American's second-quarter earnings release. The company reported net income of $42.0 million ($0.45 per share), compared with a net loss of $66.0 million ($0.68 per share) for the same period last year. However, current results could be revised downward by a possible impairment of $37.3 million related to an investment in a title agent by First American Title Insurance Co.

Ambac Financial Group has agreed to pay a counterparty $850 million to cover losses on mortgage-related collateralized debt obligations. The New York-based bond insurer would not identify the counterparty or provide details about the transaction. The CDO was collateralized by subprime and other types of residential mortgages. "The loans weren't all necessarily subprime," an Ambac spokeswoman told MortgageWire. Ambac was originally on the hook for $1.4 billion in losses on the investment, which has been described as a "CDO-squared." In March Ambac had booked $1 billion in mark-to-market losses on the deal and can now recapture $150 million. "It's a good deal for us," said the spokeswoman. Ambac is slated to release earnings on Aug. 6. The bond insurer and its competitors are potentially on the hook for billions of dollars in losses on subprime-related bonds that they insured. The transaction that Ambac settled, known as "AA Bespoke," was one of its "largest CDO exposures," the company said. Ambac can be found on the Web at http://www.ambac.com.