BNP, Commerzbank, D.Bank among HomeBanc creditors

Sun Aug 12, 2007 5:32am EDT
 
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PARIS (Reuters) - Leading European banks BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA), Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) and Commerzbank (CBKG.DE) are among the creditors of HomeBanc Corp HMBN.PK, the U.S. mortgage group which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

SEC filings available on HomeBanc's website (homebanc.com) named the banks on a list of the U.S. mortgage lender's creditors.

The list named Deutsche Bank's DB Structured Products Inc division and also named Fortis Capital Corp, which is a unit of Belgian-Dutch financial services group Fortis (FOR.BR) (FOR.AS).

Atlanta-based HomeBanc listed $5.1 billion of assets and $4.9 billion of debt in a filing late on Thursday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware.

HomeBanc did not provide estimates for how much it owes its 40 largest unsecured creditors, which it said include units of large banks such as JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM.N), KeyCorp (KEY.N) and US Bancorp (USB.N).

It said its largest shareholder is FMR Corp., the parent of Fidelity Investments, which owned 8.53 million, or about one-sixth, of the company's shares.

Many home loan providers have struggled with rising defaults, the refusal of investors to buy loans they make, and the unwillingness of banks to extend credit.

Dozens of mortgage lenders have sold operations, quit the industry or gone bankrupt in the last year.

Last week, BNP Paribas sent shockwaves through financial markets after stating it had frozen around 1.6 billion euros ($2.19 billion) worth of funds after problems in the U.S subprime mortgage sector.

Sub-prime lenders offer loans to consumers with a poor credit history.

In recent months, the number of loan defaults has increased because of higher interest rates, raising concerns that losses in the housing market will affect other parts of the economy.

 
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