BRIEF: Investor pushes for sale of Radian [The Philadelphia Inquirer]

May 21--A shareholder in Radian Group Inc. urged the Philadelphia mortgage insurer either to reveal more information about its legacy assets, which are weighing down the company's stock price, or to put itself up for sale.

The investor request was made in a letter released Monday by the Clinton Group, which owns 1.87 million Radian shares, or about 1.4 percent of the company, according to Bloomberg News.

"We believe Radian has a tremendous franchise and an opportunity to retain its leadership position in the mortgage insurance market for great future profit," George E. Hall, chief executive of Clinton Group, said in the letter.

Hall said he knew of at least one "accomplished industry executive" who was interested in buying Radian at a premium to its stock price, which has fallen from about $4.50 in mid-March to about $2 last week. In early trading Monday, the shares were up 14 percent, or 29 cents, to $2.31 on the New York Stock Exchange.

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