GE & BancOne Talking to FirstPlus?

G.E. Capital Corp., Stamford, Conn., and BancOne, Indianapolis, are talking to Dallas-based FirstPlus Financial Corp. about a deal, MortgageWire has learned.Sources say that GECC is conducting due diligence on the company and BancOne is scheduled to make a presentation either Thursday or Friday. At deadline time, FirstPlus's shares were trading up $2 or so at $18. FirstPlus, the nation's largest originator and servicer of high-LTV loans, hopes to get $22 a share for the company, said one source familiar with the situation. FirstPlus could not be reached for comment. BancOne is a warehouse lender to FirstPlus. Another large warehouse lender to FirstPlus, Residential Funding Corp., Bloomington, Minn., also has expressed interest in the company. In the first half of 1998, FirstPlus was the high-LTV volume leader with $2.46 billion in production. FirstPlus is being represented by Bear Stearns & Co. Its 52-week trading high was $61 a share.