Wachovia Mulls Options for Loan Portfolio

Wachovia(WB) shares were rising Tuesday, after a report it has hired Goldman Sachs(GS) to assess the lender's troubled loan portfolio.

Goldman will be performing "analytics on our loan portfolio to evaluate serious alternatives," a Wachovia spokeswoman told the Charlotte Observer.

As the housing crisis has deepened, Wachovia's troubles have worsened. The bank suffered deep first-quarter losses caused by a deteriorating loan portfolio linked to residential mortgages that were brought onto the balance sheet when it acquired option adjustable-rate mortgage specialist Golden West. The bank said in May that it was splitting its chairman-CEO functions, amid the ensuing shareholder unrest and early this month, the board fired longtime CEO Ken Thompson.

Chairman Lanty Smith, who took over the role from Thompson last month, has become the company's CEO on an interim basis. Smith cited "a series of previously disclosed disappointments and setbacks" for making the executive suite change and said new leadership would "revitalize and re-energize" according to a release early this month.

Reports have surfaced in recent weeks that Wachovia was considering a sale. CNBC reported last week that JPMorgan Chase (JPM) was interested in the Charlotte, N.C.-based consumer bank.

Goldman has been intimately involved with Wachovia these days. It served as joint book runner along with Wachovia's brokerage arm when the bank -- looking to raise capital -- priced $7 billion of common and convertible preferred stock offerings in April.

A Wachovia spokeswoman and Goldman spokesman did not immediately return requests for comment.

Shares of Wachovia recently were rising 4.8% to $17.73 on Tuesday.

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