2 Former American Savings Executives Starting Financial Services Company

Orange County moguls Merrill Butler and William Popejoy, previously with American Savings and the Robert M. Bass Group, are forming a new company that they say will provide financial and management services to the real estate community.

Butler Popejoy Group, based in Irvine, will deal in four areas: development of affordable housing; acquisition of real estate from banks, thrifts and the federal Resolution Trust Corp.; bulk acquisition of real estate mortgage portfolios; and purchase of mortgage servicing contracts.

Butler said he and Popejoy are still negotiating with capital sources and are hoping to raise $200 million to $300 million for their venture. No funds have been nailed down yet.

Popejoy began his career in mortgage banking and was the first president of the Federal Home Mortgage Corp. He had run three different savings and loan associations when federal regulators hired him in 1984 to take over as chief executive officer of American Savings and Loan, then the nation’s largest thrift--and one of its sickest.

In 1988, when regulators engineered the sale of American to affiliates of the Bass Group, Popejoy became a principal in one of the partnerships. He served on the board of American Savings and several related companies until he resigned in December, 1991.

Butler, a longtime Orange County home and apartment builder, was the first president of American Real Estate Group, a division of American Savings responsible for management of the Irvine-based thrift’s $7.5-billion portfolio of problem real estate assets. Butler served as the unit’s chairman and then chairman emeritus after it was acquired by the Bass affiliates.

Butler said the new firm’s initial emphasis will probably be on providing financing for builders who want to do affordable-housing projects.