Home Savings to Sell 60 N.Y. Branches : Banking: GreenPoint Financial will buy the system for $660 million.

Home Savings of America, the nation’s largest savings and loan, announced an agreement Monday to sell its New York state branch system to GreenPoint Financial Corp. of New York City for $660 million, a price 1 1/2 times what some analysts expected the system to fetch.

Charles R. Rinehart, chairman and chief executive of Irwindale-based Home Savings and parent H.F. Ahmanson & Co., said the deal serves the company’s long-term strategy of concentrating its deposit-gathering efforts in three core markets--California, Texas and Florida--even as it spreads out its lending activities nationally.

The sale, which is subject to regulatory approval, involves 60 branches with $8.3 billion in deposits in New York City, Long Island and Westchester County. Not included are Home Savings’ five loan-origination offices in the New York area.

Rinehart noted that while Home Savings has sold off deposits and branches in Illinois, Missouri, Ohio and Washington state over the last two years, it has purchased deposits in its core regions, especially California, where its $27 billion in deposits ranks it third in the state.

The sale will give Ahmanson a war chest it can use to buy back stock, acquire more deposits or buy a consumer finance company, Rinehart said.

“The most obvious would be repurchasing the common stock,” he said.

Analysts said Ahmanson will post a $238-million after-tax gain on the sale and will purge $107 million worth of goodwill from its books.

“It’s a very attractive deal from Ahmanson’s standpoint,” said Jonathan E. Gray, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. He said the gains will more than offset the loss of earnings from the 60 branches, which serve 290,000 households and employ 800 people.

Ahmanson’s shares rose 37.5 cents to close at $22.625 on Monday on the New York Stock Exchange. GreenPoint’s shares dropped $1.25 to close at $22.50 in Nasdaq trading, as investors reacted to the hefty purchase price.

For GreenPoint, based in the New York City borough of Queens, the acquisition helps achieve its strategic aim of becoming a major consumer bank in the New York market.

The Home Savings branch network was created through the acquisitions of Century Federal Savings & Loan in 1984, Bowery Savings Bank in 1988, Home Savings Bank in 1990 and several branches of Long Island Savings Bank in 1993.

Ahmanson operates 358 savings branches in five states and 111 mortgage lending offices in 11 states.

Times wire services contributed to this report.