LOS ANGELES - Fremont General Corp. said Wednesday it had agreed to sell $4 billion in subprime real estate loans at a pretax loss of $140 million.

The Santa Monica-based company, which previously disclosed it was trying to sell its residential loan business, said it had received $950 million in cash from a sale to an undisclosed buyer or buyers and expects the remaining transactions to be completed in the next several weeks.

Subprime lenders make expensive loans to people with low credit scores. Lenders industrywide have been selling subprime assets amid a surge in mortgage defaults.

Fremont said it still operates its profitable commercial real estate lending and residential loan servicing businesses and its retail banking division.

Earlier this week, Freemont said it had notified a substantial portion of the 2,400 employees in its subprime lending unit, including an undisclosed number of workers in Tampa, that they will lose their jobs by May 18.

Fremont had said it was talking to potential buyers of its residential loan business but intended to leave the sector completely whether or not it found a buyer. Company officials did not say whether the $4 billion in loans is its complete portfolio.

Wednesday's announcement raises the question of whether the best loans were sold, perhaps leaving the company with the riskiest loans yet to sell, said Theodore Kovaleff, senior bank and thrift analyst at Sky Capital LLC.

Kovaleff estimates Fremont sold the loans for about 96 cents on the dollar, a better rate than another subprime lender, Accredited Home Lenders Holding Co., recently got for its loans. Friday, Accredited announced plans to sell $2.7 billion in loans at a discount to satisfy margin calls from lenders and stave off a liquidity crisis caused by rising defaults on mortgages given to high-risk borrowers.

Kovaleff said the sale leaves Fremont with a profitable line of business and good future prospects.

"This essentially validates my contention that Fremont is not going to go the way of New Century," he said.

Subprime lender New Century Financial Corp. is thought to be close to bankruptcy.