Gleacher & Co. is closing the firm’s mortgage-backed securities and rates division along with its credit products division, effective immediately.
The transition could impact up to 160 employees.
The MBS and rates segment had trading volumes worth more than $100 billion in securities annually, as well as $1 billion of MBS positions in inventory, the company explained.
Despite the closing of units, the company will remain in the investment banking business.
On a similar note, Gleacher (GLCH) said it’s engaged in preliminary discussions with an unnamed third party, regarding a potential business merger or acquisition. However, there can be no assurance that these discussions will result in a transaction.
In February, Gleacher sold its Clearpoint wholesale mortgage production unit to Homeward Residential, which is a subsidiary of Ocwen Financial Corp (OCN)
The main reason for the sale was that Clearpoint was unable to acquire Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or Ginnie Mae seller approvals for the reasons as to why Gleacher owned the company to begin with, which was to generate MBS to sell to investors.
During the fourth quarter of 2012, Gleacher reported a net loss of $11.5 million, which impacted all divisions of the business, according to the company.
