BlackRock Inc. and other investors agreed to an $8.5 billion settlement with Bank of America Corp. over mortgage loans rather than risk litigation and the bankruptcy of its Countrywide Financial unit, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The accord came after the investors were told by Bank of America that it had clearance from a federal banking regulator to put Countrywide, which was facing investor claims over defective loans, into bankruptcy, Kathy Patrick, an attorney for the investor group, said in court yesterday. The BlackRock group, which also includes Pacific Investment Management Co. and MetLife Inc., is asking Justice Barbara Kapnick of New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan to approve the settlement, which was reached in June 2011. The hearing on approval started on Monday. The agreement would resolve claims from mortgage-bond investors over Countrywide loans that were packaged into securities. It is opposed by an investor group led by American International Group Inc.
