The state's largest savings and loan holding company, First Texas Financial Corp., is seeking federal help for its troubled thrifts, company officials said Thursday. A proposal submitted to federal regulators by First Texas includes financial backing from New York investor Saul Steinberg's Reliance Insurance Co., and private funding by First Texas Chairman and Chief Executive J. Livingston Kosberg and Dallas real estate developer Richard C. Strauss. First Texas Financial is the parent company of Dallas-based First Texas Savings Association and Houston-based Gibraltar Savings Association. The plan would provide more than $250 million in private funds in return for an undetermined amount from the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corp., a First Texas spokeswoman who wished to remain anonymous said Thursday. ``I can confirm there has been an offer and that we are optimistic about it, but at this time, we don't know how much federal money is involved,'' she said. With 44 branches in the state, First Texas has assets of $3.4 billion. Gibraltar, with 53 locations and assets of $6.1 billion, is the state's largest thrift. Together, the two thrifts lost $169.9 million in the first quarter. The Federal Home Loan Bank is in the midst of implementing the Southwest Plan, a program to merge, close or consolidate more than 100 insolvent thrifts in Texas. Regulators have announced three consolidations of 11 thrifts in Texas since February involving $2.2 billion in FSLIC aid. The president of the FHLB in Dallas, George Barclay, said he hopes to close or merge 20 more thrifts by Sept. 30.
