Sunterra had a debt load of $850 million when the once high-flying timeshare developer filed for protection in May 2000. The bankruptcy petition showed the timeshare firm had $1 billion of assets in 89 global resorts. Cypress Pointe Resort in Orlando is one of Sunterra's more successful properties.

Sunterra paid off Finova from a $210 million, court-approved term loan package it had received in April 2001 from Greenwich Capital Markets Inc. of Greenwich, CT. The $105 million payoff to Finova equates to a discount from par of about $25 million, Sunterra officials say in a prepared statement.

"The settlement with Finova represents a substantial benefit to our reorganization process," Gregory F. Rayburn, Sunterra's chief restructuring officer, says in the same statement. "It resolves various disputes between Sunterra and Finova, and the payment to Finova reflects a significant discount from the amount of Finova's fully secured claims."