Thornburg Mortgage, chairman Garrett Thornburg said the jumbo mortgage lender "was lucky to be here today" after a year that saw the company lose billions of dollars and its common stock fall from almost $30 to less than a dollar a share.

Speaking to about 200 shareholders at the company's annual meeting Thursday at the Eldorado Hotel, Thornburg described his own efforts during the sub-prime credit crisis to gain aid from the federal government, including the Federal Reserve, and bring liquidity back to the $11 trillion mortgage industry — all to no avail.

"They weren't willing to do a new mortgage insurance program," Thornburg said. "And on the legislative side, the government didn't act in a timely manner."

But both Thornburg and Larry Goldstone, the company's president and CEO, indicated that current measures Thornburg Mortgage is taking, including a $1.35 billion loan from outside investors, may allow the company to survive and start issuing new mortgages again.

"It's important for us to be on a sound financial footing," Thornburg said. "We have the opportunity to grow our business again."

"We're optimistic about the business going forward," Goldstone said.

Earlier Thursday, Thornburg Mortgage, a major Santa Fe employer with 300 workers, reported the latest bad news for the company: a loss of $3.3 billion for the quarter that ended March 31, or $20.64 per common share. That compares with a net income of $75 million for the same period a year earlier.

About half the loss — $1.542 billion — resulted from a decline in the fair market value of the company's mortgage-backed securities and other holdings, a company statement said.

The company "was negatively impacted by conditions impacting the entire mortgage market, Goldstone said in a company statement Thursday, referring to declining home prices and substantial declines in mortgage securities and mortgage loan prices.

Goldstone faced some irate shareholders at the meeting, including Kent Wolford of Jemez Springs, who was at the meeting with his wife Perrie. Perrie Wolford said she had lost $14,000 in her investment in Thornburg Mortgage common stock.

Kent Wolford, who also had shares in the company, said he was upset that Thornburg Mortgage seemed to be taking better care of its managers than of its shareholders.

Kent Wolford was also critical of a proposed 1 for 10 reverse stock split Thornburg Mortgage planned to implement. That means an investor gets one share of company stock for every 10 shares he or she owns.

"There's no proof that a stock will hold its value after a split," Kent Wolford said.

Goldstone disputed that, pointing out that the lenders' investment was considered a private placement, not a buy out.

Another shareholder, William Wiley of Santa Fe, said he would advise other shareholders to vote against a company plan to issue more common stock, saying most of the money resulting from the issuance would go to private companies investing in Thornburg Mortgage rather than shareholders.

That comment earned Wiley applause from shareholders.

Several shareholders thanked Goldstone, Thornburg and the directors for doing what they were to save the firm from bankruptcy.

After the meeting, Goldstone said he was pleased with how the meeting went, adding that he had expected it to be more "skewed to the negative" than it was.

In the afternoon, Thornburg Mortgage said that shareholders had gone along with the firm's recommendations to re-elect three directors. They are Santa Fe restaurateur Francis Mullin and J. Matlin and Mark Patterson, co-founders of MatlinPatterson Global Advisors, a $9 billion private equity firm.

The firm, along with 49 other investors, has helped Thornburg raise $1.35 billion in financing that has helped Thornburg to survive.

In comments made at the meeting, Patterson said he and his partner had looked at companies comparable to Thornburg Mortgage for investment, but "we found no company with better assets than Thornburg Mortgage."

He added: "We're a big believer in the viability of this franchise."

Shareholders also approved amendments that would increase the number of shares of capital, common and preferred stock, from 500 million to 4 billion shares and to change the way the company treats some preferred stock.

In addition, Thornburg Mortgage plans to buy back all of the company's outstanding preferred stock, a move that is needed as a condition of the loan from MatlinPatterson and the other investors.

Once the tender offer is complete, Thornburg Mortgage will save about $69 million per year in interest payments because interest rate on certain notes held by lenders will be reduced to 12 percent from 18 percent.

Shareholders will receive $5 for each share of preferred stock tendered, as well as 3 1/2 shares of common stock.

Thornburg Mortgage's common stock closed at 75 cents Thursday, up three cents.

Contact Bob Quick at 986-3011 or bobquick@sfnewmexican.com.