NEW YORK (Reuters) - Merrill Lynch & Co (MER.N), battered by more than $40 billion of write-downs tied largely to mortgages, said on Tuesday it hired Michael Nierenberg from JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) to head its mortgage and securitization businesses.

Nierenberg has been head of global securitized products at JPMorgan. He previously worked at Bear Stearns Cos, before concern about its credit-worthiness triggered a run on the bank that resulted in its being bought in May by JPMorgan at a heavy discount.

Merrill, the world's largest brokerage, also said it has hired James De Mare from Citigroup Inc (C.N) to head its mortgage trading operations.

Nierenberg will report to Thomas Montag, head of global sales and trading, who joined Merrill this month from Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N). De Mare will report to Nierenberg.

Much of Merrill's troubles have stemmed from its investment bank, which Chief Executive John Thain is trying to fix. Thain also used to work at Goldman, where Montag was a colleague.

Wall Street and commercial banks have suffered close to half a trillion of write-downs and credit losses since the global credit crisis began more than a year ago.

Danielle Robinson, a Merrill spokeswoman, declined further comment.

In morning trading, Merrill shares rose 43 cents to $28.78 on the New York Stock Exchange. Through Friday, they had fallen 64 percent from a 52-week high set last September 19.

(Reporting by Elinor Comlay; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

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