Aug. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s heads of mortgage origination and securitization are leaving the firm as the business of making home loans and packaging them into bonds shrinks.

Ted Janulis, 49, who was in charge of mortgage capital, will retire next month, spokesman Randy Whitestone said. Rich McKinney, 43, head of securitized products in the U.S., is being replaced by 36-year-old Charles Spero, Whitestone said. Janulis's position will go unfilled as the division is merged into fixed income.

Chief Executive Officer Richard Fuld shut the mortgage lending units last year after investor appetite for securities backed by mortgages dried up. The New York-based firm has fired some 2,500 people in those divisions and 4,000 in other departments.

``When units are having as much difficulty as Lehman's mortgage units are having, turnover is natural,'' said Bruce Foerster, president of South Beach Capital Markets in Miami.

Janulis, who was on the 16-member management committee of Lehman, was identified by the New York Times on Aug. 4 as among four top candidates being considered to be chief executive at Freddie Mac, the mortgage finance company. Janulis joined Lehman in 1985 and ran the investment management division until 2006, when he moved to mortgages.

McKinney, who started at Lehman in 1993, became the head of U.S. securitization last year when David Sherr, the global head of securitization, left the firm to open his own hedge fund.

Frozen Assets

Lehman was stuck with $85 billion of mortgage-related assets last year when the market froze. Lehman shares have fallen 80 percent this year on concern the continuing losses on those assets will lead to bankruptcy. The firm is considering multiple steps to further reduce the portfolio, which now stands at $65 billion, while assessing options to raise capital to offset losses.

Richard Bove, an analyst at Ladenburg Thalmann & Co., raised his recommendation on the stock to ``buy'' from ``neutral'' today, and said Lehman could face a hostile takeover. Lehman shares fell 1 cent to $13.72 today in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.

``The people inside the firm are in open revolt because Fuld hasn't taken the tough decisions needed to regain confidence,'' Bove said in an interview. ``So when a hostile bidder comes along, management will be on his side because they want Fuld out.''

`Tough Times'

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg countered that view. He has known Fuld ``forever'' and talked to him at a recent benefit about the ``tough times'' on Wall Street, Bloomberg said in response to reporters' questions at a news conference today.

``He's a phenomenally competent guy, took a company that really had big problems and brought it back,'' Bloomberg said. ``Now they've got some other problems, and I'm sure he's working night and day to do what's right.''

The mayor is founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP.

The departures were first reported by Dealbreaker.com.

To contact the reporter on this story: Yalman Onaran in New York at yonaran@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 21, 2008 16:20 EDT