Just days after struggling Fremont General Corp. adopted a “poison pill” strategy, a Texas-based hedge fund said Friday that it has “engaged” a former senior executive of Countrywide Financial Corp. in an effort to acquire Fremont or auction it off.

Fort Worth-based Amalgamated Gadget LP, which owns 8.2 percent of Fremont’s stock, said it has “engaged” Nicholas Krsnich, the former chief investment officer of Calabasas-based Countrywide and the former chief financial officer of the lender’s bank.

Amalgamated said Krsnich will play “an active role through the due diligence process and with the bank going forward if our bid should prevail. Nick’s expertise will also be very useful in achieving the highest value for the mortgage securities remaining on the balance sheet.”

A spokesman for Santa Monica-based Fremont would not comment on the matter and no one from Amalgamated could be reached.

In its filing, Amalgamated called on the company to end its “unproductive” takeover talks with an investor group led by Texas billionaire and former thrift executive Gerald J. Ford — who in September backed out of an earlier $80 million investment. Amalgamated said it could make Fremont an offer “at least as attractive” as the Ford group’s.

This comes less than a week after Fremont adopted a poison pill provision after Harbinger Capital disclosed it holds a roughly 9 percent stake in the company. On Tuesday, Fremont laid out its “shareholder rights” plan, but said it was not a response to any specific takeover effort.

The poison pill provision was aimed at any shareholder who obtains more than 5 percent of the company’s stock or who makes an unsolicited offer for the company. It provides for an exception for shareholders like Harbinger or Amalgamated that have filed forms stating they do not intend to control or influence the company, and as long as those investors own less than 10 percent of Fremont’s stock. The provision does not expire until 2017.

Fremont said it adopted the rights plan because U.S. tax laws limits its ability to use net operating losses to offset taxable income when there is a change in ownership.

Last week Fremont reported an $856 million loss for the first half of 2007.

Shares in Fremont gained 3.4 percent Friday to $3.08 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.