BANKING & FINANCE - May 6, 1993

ITT to Divest Small-Loan Portfolio: ITT Corp. said it plans to sell a consumer small-loan portfolio for $1.7 billion in cash to a group led by investment bank Goldman Sachs & Co., but the conglomerate will retain a 15% equity stake in the business. The consumer finance business was a poor one in recent years, and ITT was already trying to reduce its offering of the risky unsecured loans. To get out, however, it had to sell at a sharp discount, since the loans had a face value of more than $2 billion. Nonetheless, ITT said it expects the sale of ITT Consumer Financial Corp.’s domestic consumer small loans to lead to a gain in the second quarter. ITT’s stock jumped $3 to $83.75 on the New York Stock Exchange.