Butler to Head New Real Estate Group at FCA

Financial Corp. of America has named veteran developer Merrill Butler to head a newly formed division known as the American Real Estate Group that will be in charge of selling off its problem loans.

In his new job, the 61-year-old Butler will be an executive vice president of FCA and a senior executive vice president of American Savings & Loan, FCA’s principal subsidiary. Butler has been a director and consultant for FCA since 1984.

The move amounts to a reorganization and consolidation of duties that were being performed elsewhere within the savings and loan company, FCA officials said. Butler will now take direct charge of selling the nearly $2 billion in troubled loans that American Savings has in its real estate portfolio.

“This step tightens the overall operation into a more effective unit with a strong, clearly defined chain of command,” Butler said in a statement.

In a phone interview, Butler called the job an “immense undertaking” that is “the biggest challenge of my career.” He said he will supervise more than 400 people working at a task that will probably take two years to complete.

Butler, a highly decorated combat officer during World War II, has spent nearly four decades developing and building homes. He is on the board of the Federal National Mortgage Assn. and is a past president of the National Assn. of Home Builders.