Doral Picks Advisers to Review Refi Options

Doral Financial Corp., a mortgage lender based in San Juan, Puerto Rico, has announced the selection of Bear Stearns and JPMorgan to assist the company in evaluating options for refinancing its $625 million floating-rate senior notes that mature in July 2007.In September, Doral announced an agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission under which it will pay a $25 million civil penalty in connection with the SEC's probe of Doral's restatement of financial results for 2000-2004. Doral's restatement slashed $694.4 million from its retained earnings through the end of 2004 to correct the accounting for certain mortgage loan sales and the valuation of its interest-only strips. Doral can be found online at http://www.doralfinancial.com.