Doral Financial Corp. wants court permission to sell its insurance arm to Anglo-Puerto Rican Insurance Corp. for $10.75 million, subject to higher bids at an auction, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Doral said in a Tuesday bankruptcy court filing that without the sale, its Doral Insurance Agency unit would likely experience a “rapid and substantial decline” in value. A judge has set an April 9 hearing to consider the procedures of an auction, which would be held May 12 if competing bids are made. Doral Financial, whose primary asset was Puerto Rico’s Doral Bank, which failed in February, didn’t place the insurance unit into chapter 11 when it filed for bankruptcy in March. But because about 40 percent of Doral Insurance’s commissions come from business generated by Doral Bank customers, that flow would be gone if Doral Bank is placed in receivership in Puerto Rico.
