Continental Bank Stock Sale: The Federal Deposit...

Continental Bank Stock Sale: The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. plans to sell up to 9 million shares of Continental Bank Corp. common stock in another step to return the Chicago-based bank to public ownership, according to Securities and Exchange Commission documents. The sale, which would raise about $230 million, would reduce the FDIC’s direct and indirect control of the bank to about 26%. Shares of the bank company were up 12.5 cents at $25.50. The FDIC put up $4.5 billion in 1984 to rescue the bank, then known as Continental Illinois, which was threatened by a run on deposits. After the sale of the remainder of the stock, probably later this year, the FDIC’s losses are expected to total about $2 billion.