Fieldstone Cuts 14% of Workforce

Columbia, Md. based company, Fieldstone announced it is consolidating operations and trimming staff. Six wholesale operations offices will be shut down immediately, however, the Account executives will remain in the areas where the offices are being closed. Nine additional branches will be closed, while home office staff reductions are being evaluated. According to the company's statement, currently 125 people are affected by the layoffs. They expect all consolidation to be complete by the second quarter. Credit-Based Asset Servicing and Securitization LLC - or C-BASS, which has agreed to acquire Fieldstone, lowered its acquisition price from $5.35 per share to $4 per share. Their reasons for lowering the price per share were additional liquidity problems. Fieldstone also announced in February it paid $10.6 million to settle shareholders litigation. The real estate investment trust said it expects to take a $550,000 pre-tax charge in the first quarter as a result of the consolidations.