Briefs: BankBoston Subprime Auto Unit to Norwest

Norwest Financial Inc. said Monday it has agreed to buy Fidelity Acceptance Corp., the subprime auto lending unit of BankBoston Corp., for $340 million in cash.

The deal, set to close in the third quarter, calls for the unit of Norwest Corp., Minneapolis, to repay BankBoston $800 million in outstanding debt. BankBoston said it expects an after-tax gain of $40 million.

Fidelity Acceptance has been for sale since last fall, when BankBoston's chief executive officer, Charles K. Gifford, said he wanted to focus on building corporate and global banking.

BankBoston reached a tentative agreement to sell the unit to Mercury Finance Corp. in January. That deal was scrapped Feb. 6 amid news that Mercury was being investigated for allegedly improper accounting procedures.

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