Shares of former mortgage lender Fremont General Corp. plunged 47 percent Friday after the company said that it may be forced to file for bankruptcy in order to complete the sale of its retail banking business.

The Brea-based bank, which moved from Santa Monica earlier this year, said it doesn’t know when it will be able to provide regulators with financial information to finish the sale to CapitalSource Inc., a financing firm based in Chevy Chase, Md.

A Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing would shelter the company from creditors as it seeks approval for the sale, Fremont said in a statement.

Friday’s announcement comes one day after Fremont said it had agreed to sell the remainder of its mortgage servicing rights to a unit of Goldman Sachs Group in an effort to divest “substantially all” of its remaining assets.

Fremont intends to close the sale of its mortgage business to Goldman’s Litton Loan Servicing LP unit in the second quarter, with Litton assuming control of Fremont’s $12.2 billion servicing portfolio.

Terms of the deal or a sale price were not disclosed.

Fremont shares were suspended from trading on the New York Stock Exchange in April and the company is currently traded on the over the-counter-bulletin board. Shares plunged 40 percent to 10 cents per share in afternoon trading Friday.