Key Selling Champion Mortgage

Cleveland-based KeyCorp has announced the sale of a $2.5 billion nonprime mortgage loan portfolio of its Champion Mortgage division to a subsidiary of HSBC Finance Corp., as well as a separate agreement to sell Champion's origination platform to an affiliate of Fortress Investment Group LLC.The terms of the two transactions were not disclosed. Key said it expects the transactions to result in a net after-tax charge of approximately $164 million ($0.40 per share) in the fourth quarter due to a $170 million writeoff of goodwill associated with its 1997 acquisition of Champion, which is based in Parsippany, N.J. Key said it also expects to record additional pretax charges of approximately $25 million and $30 million related to the sale of the platform. The company said Champion "no longer fits strategically" with its longer-term business goals, which focus on community banking and relationship-oriented business. Key can be found online at http://www.key.com, and HSBC can be found at http://www.hsbcusa.com.