MGIC Investment Corp is looking for a buyer for its Australian lenders' mortgage insurance operation but, failing that, will close the business.The insurance company disclosed in its fourth quarter earnings release overnight that "we have been exploring alternatives for our Australian activities which may include a sale of our Australian operations. "As a result, we have reduced our Australian headcount and suspended writing new business in Australia. "Unless we are successful in a sale in the first quarter of 2009, we may place our existing Australian book of business into runoff."MGIC opted to return to the Australian market after an absence of three decades at the tail of the long boom. It began underwriting home loans in late 2007.The insurer attracted few clients. Its 2008 financials are not known but the 2007 financials for MGIC, published in June 2008, show the company invested $130 million in capital in its Australian start-up. Start-up losses were $6 million.The MGIC US financials describe the Australian operations as "immaterial".