The Santa Monica lender, which operates through a bank subsidiary, Fremont Investment & Loan, said it already had received $950 million in cash from its first loan sale and expected to complete the rest of the sales over the next several weeks.
The buyers weren't disclosed, but hedge funds and other investors in distressed properties have expressed strong interest in loans from sub-prime lenders that have been hammered by recent defaults, said Stan Ross, chairman of USC's Lusk Center for Real Estate.