Genworth CEO hints at split of company

(Reuters) - Mortgage insurer Genworth Financial <GNW.N> is taking steps to possibly split up the company, said its Chief Executive Michael Fraizer on a post-earnings conference call, sending its shares up 6 percent on Friday afternoon.

Fraizer said it would make sense splitting the company into two, but added that its not a "strategy to execute in the near term."

To enable a possible split, Fraizer said they were thinking of realigning some of their businesses, bringing down debt and "transitioning certain business platforms toward more stand-alone capital structures."

Genworth shares were trading up 5 percent at $8.23 on Friday on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Rachel Chitra & Brenton Cordeiro in Bangalore; Editing by Roshni Menon)