The struggling investment bank Gleacher & Company confirmed on Friday that it had ended attempts to sell itself, at least for the moment, as it settled on the sale of its mortgage lending unit.
In disclosing its fourth-quarter results, including an $11.5 million loss from continuing operations, Gleacher said that it had struck a deal to sell its ClearPoint subsidiary to Ocwen Financial.
But the company said that it had concluded a review of strategic alternatives, including a sale of some or all of the firm, showed that none of the options was in “the best interests of Gleacher’s stockholders at this time.â€
Gleacher & Company’s decision comes several weeks afer its namesake founder, the veteran deal maker Eric Gleacher, left the firm. By the time Mr. Gleacher had left, the investment bank already appeared unlikely to pursue a sale, despite having hired Credit Suisse as an adviser last year.
Gleacher & Company’s board had already rejected a proposed sale to Stifel Financial last fall, believing it too low.
Since then, the investment bank has been exploring ways to lift a sagging stock price in an effort to avoid being delisted by the Nasdaq stock market for trading below $1 a share for an extended period of time. Shares in the firm traded around 80 cents each as of Friday afternoon.
