American of Fla. shifting portfolio.

MIAMI -- American Savings of Florida said it had nearly completed the sale of the $218 million of fixed-rate securities that are backed by mortgages.

The sale would result in gain of about $14 million in the third quarter, raising capital ratios at the $3 billion-asset thrift.

American Savings said it decided to sell because it expected more prepayments on the underlying loans and wanted to invest in asset with adjustable rates or on shorter duration.

Other Vehicles

Proceeds from the sale will be invested in adjustable-rate mortgage-backed securities or whole loans, seven-year balloon mortgage-backeds, or whole loans and short-terms U.S. Treasury securities.

However, American Savings said its net interest margin, 2.34% for the second quarter, will decrease by about 25 basis points after the sale as the fixed-rate securities yielding about 9% are replaced by lower yielding assets.

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