First Horizon sells non-Tennessee mortgage business

NEW YORK (Reuters) - First Horizon National Corp (FHN.N) said it completed the sale to a subsidiary of MetLife Inc (MET.N) of its mortgage origination and servicing business outside of the state of Tennessee, and raised its projected charge-offs for 2008.

The bank said on Tuesday the sale to MetLife Bank, which closed on Sunday, involved its 250 mortgage production offices outside of Tennessee and included $380 million in assets. Its First Tennessee Bank subsidiary will continue to originate mortgages for Tennessee customers.

First Horizon said it expects associated total charges from mortgages to range between $35 million and $50 million during the final two quarters of 2008.

The bank also raised its current projections for charge-offs for 2008 by about $100 million above the previous estimate range of $385 million to $485 million.

First Horizon said total delinquencies are running below the levels of the first half of 2008 and have remained stable in recent months.

(Reporting by Phil Wahba; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)