TD Banknorth to Sell $2.6B in MBS

TD Banknorth Inc., a financial services company based in Portland, Maine, has announced a balance sheet restructuring program involving the sale of approximately $2.6 billion of mortgage-backed securities in connection with a pending acquisition.The company said the asset sales would reduce the earnings volatility inherent in MBS as a result of prepayments and call-related features. TD Banknorth will incur a pretax loss of approximately $45 million in the fourth quarter in connection with the restructuring. The company said it expects that approximately $2.7 billion in additional investment securities to be acquired from of Hudson United Bancorp will be sold after the acquisition, with the proceeds used to repay an equal amount of debt. TD Banknorth can be found online at http://www.tdbanknorth.com.