Smaller investors pay $335 million to RTC for nonperforming loans.

WASHINGTON -- The Resolution Trust Corp. last week auctioned 11,200 nonperforming loans to small investors for $335 million.

The loans had a book value of $672 million.

The two-day auction, held in Kansas City, Mo., was the first under the RTC's small investor program, designed for people with $1 million or less to spend. About 750 people attended.

On the first day, the RTC sold $211 million, mostly in residential loans. On day two, the agency sold $124 million in packages of mostly commercial real estate and consumer loans, the RTC said.

Small Investors |Have a Place'

"This auction shows that small investors definitely have a place at the RTC's table of investment opportunities," Lamar C. Kelly, RTC senior vice president for asset management and sales said in a statement.

"We are also pleased that this auction achieved the highest single dollar amount that we have recovered in a nonperforming loan auction to date."

The RTC said it recovered an average of 50% of the outstanding principal balance for all the loans at last week's auction. It has auctioned about $2.3 billion in nonperforming loans since June, 1991.

Action at OTS

Separately, the Office of Thrift Supervision on Thursday announced that a Los Angeles court had appointed a receiver to manage the assets of a former S&L executive the OTS believes violated banking regulations.

The OTS seeks $40 million in restitution from Thomas Spiegel, the former chief executive officer of failed Columbia Savings and Loan Association in Beverly Hills, Calif. The agency also seeks to ban Mr. Spiegel from banking.

The OTS argued that a receiver was needed because Mr. Spiegel was dissipating his assets by spending as much as twice the monthly $17,000 in living expenses he was allowed.

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