Fremont Sells Unit, Names New Execs

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Shares in Fremont General Corp. soared nearly 40 percent Tuesday after the company sold its commercial real estate unit and shuffled its executive lineup.


Fremont agreed to sell its commercial real estate unit for $1.9 billion to New York-based IStar Financial Inc. The sale, coupled with Fremont’s sale of its home lending business to Ellington Capital Management about a month ago, will provide much-needed cash to keep its retail banking business open, the Santa Monica-based bank said.


An investor group led by billionaire Gerald J. Ford will buy $80 million of Fremont stock options and preferred stock in the company’s banking subsidiary, Fremont Investment & Loan, and will become chairman of the company’s board, replacing James McIntyre. Ford’s associates, Carl Webb and J. Randy Staff, will become chief executive and chief financial officer of the company and the bank, respectively.


Shares in Fremont surged 38 percent, or $2.70, in afternoon trading Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange.

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