1stPlus Dive Linked to GECC Report

The share price of FirstPlus Financial, Dallas, fell almost 15% Tuesday morning after a 34% decline on Monday.The Monday selloff was sparked, in part, by a report in National Mortgage News that General Electric Capital Corp., Stamford, Conn., had looked at and passed on buying FirstPlus, the nation's largest high-LTV originator/servicer. At noon Tuesday FirstPlus (symbol: FP) was trading at $12.89, down $2.18, and down 79% from its 52-week high. A FirstPlus spokesman declined to comment about its share price or potential bidders. After it became known that GECC was no longer interested in FP, Merrill Lynch downgraded FirstPlus to "neutral." It is well known that GECC looks at many potential acquisitions and often passes. Most recently it looked at United Companies, Baton Rogue, another publicly traded subprime lender, and passed on that acquisition as well, sources said. The steep decline in FirstPlus's share price has decimated investors in the company.