posted
Hey invester, what's your take on this now? Do you think they'll still offer a $ figure for the shares? I sold at 1.2, but I'm considering buying in again.
quote:Originally posted by cassity: Hey invester, what's your take on this now? Do you think they'll still offer a $ figure for the shares? I sold at 1.2, but I'm considering buying in again.
No way, they need to raise $1 billion. My take is that they go into bankruptcy and PE takes them over for free.
Posts: 4381 | From: houston | Registered: Mar 2006
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posted
CALLED IT!!!The office of THRIFT just closed Bank United. I knew that billion would kill them.
Posts: 4381 | From: houston | Registered: Mar 2006
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BankUnited fails; private-equity firms snap up assets Florida-based lender succumbs in largest bank failure of 2009Explore related topics Banks BankUnited Financial Corp Blackstone Group LP (The) Goldman Sachs Group Inc Story Quotes Comments (47) Alert Email Print ShareBy Alistair Barr, MarketWatch SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- BankUnited Financial, the largest lender based in Florida, was shut down by banking regulators and sold to a group of private-equity firms, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said late Thursday.
The seizure is the 34th bank failure so far this year and the biggest.
The Office of Thrift Supervision closed BankUnited /quotes/comstock/15*!bkuna/quotes/nls/bkuna (BKUNA 0.45, -0.04, -8.57%) on Thursday and appointed the FDIC as receiver. BankUnited shares fell 8.6% in after-hours trading before being halted.
BankUnited will reopen Friday under a management team led by John Kanas, the former chief executive of North Fork Bank.
The new owners include distressed debt specialist WL Ross & Co.; Carlyle Investment Management L.L.C.; Blackstone Capital Partners V L.P. /quotes/comstock/13*!bx/quotes/nls/bx (BX 10.84, +0.06, +0.56%) ; Centerbridge Capital Partners L.P.; LeFrak Organization Inc; The Wellcome Trust; Greenaap Investments Ltd.; and East Rock Endowment Fund, the FDIC said.
Florida banks have been hit hard by the real estate slump, which has the potential to linger for longer in the Sunshine state. BankUnited was undone by a foray into option adjustable-rate mortgages during the housing boom earlier this decade. Its troubles have been known for several months, but because of the potential value of its Florida franchise, regulators took time to line up as many bidders for the bank's assets as possible. See related story.
"This has been a long time coming and there have been a lot of questions about why it wasn't done earlier," said Kenneth Thomas, a banking expert and economist based in Miami, Fla. "The good news is that this deal brings in a lot of capital and the bank's going to continue operating, hopefully without skipping a beat."
BankUnited is based in Coral Gables, Fla., and has more than 80 branches in the state, including several in Miami.
Thomas said he saw no signs of a run on BankUnited branches in Miami on Thursday.
"The government shopped it around in a very orderly way," he said.
Private-equity enters the fray The deal is important because bank regulators have been reluctant to let private-equity firms own banks in the past.
"Due to the interest of private equity firms in the purchase of depository institutions in receivership, the FDIC has been evaluating the appropriate terms for such investments," the regulator said in a statement.
"In the near future, the FDIC will provide generally applicable policy guidance on eligibility and other terms and conditions for such investments to guide potential investors," it said.
The private-equity group, headed by Wilbur Ross's WL Ross, is putting $900 million of new capital into BankUnited.
The group will take on almost all of BankUnited's $12.8 billion in assets. The FDIC said it will share losses on $10.7 billion of those assets with the private-equity firms.
The group will also assume $8.3 billion of deposits, out of a total of $8.6 billion, the FDIC said. The remaining $348 million of deposits were collected by brokers and the FDIC is paying those brokers directly.
BankUnited's failure will cost the FDIC's Deposit Insurance Fund $4.9 billion. The bank regulator said the deal with the Ross-led group was the "least costly" solution for the fund.
"That's a big number," Thomas said, but he noted it could have been more without the commitment of new capital from the private-equity firms.
"Other banks didn't show up," he added. "These were the only ones to show up and they brought $900 million with them. That's $900 million less that the taxpayer will have to shoulder."
The deal could encourage more purchases of failed banks by private-equity firms as the FDIC looks for ways to sell seized institutions without depleting its insurance fund too much.
"The name of the game is private capital," Thomas aid. "There are probably tens of billions of dollars on the side lines from these groups. Why would we not consider them as a source of capital?"
Goldman Sachs /quotes/comstock/13*!gs/quotes/nls/gs (GS 137.25, +0.09, +0.07%) and TD Bank /quotes/comstock/13*!td/quotes/nls/td (TD 42.95, +0.24, +0.57%) were reportedly considering a joint bid for BankUnited. It's not clear whether they entered a bid. Alistair Barr is a reporter for MarketWatch in San Francisco.
Posts: 4381 | From: houston | Registered: Mar 2006
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quote:Originally posted by invester: I hope you got my post in time Cassity.
Sure did, I had a very small position (4000 shares) on Tuesday that I bought at .75 and sold them AH on Tuesday night at .60. Figured there was no point in losing all of it. Made about 400% off this bad boy from .31 to 1.20's range..can't complain..GLTY
Posts: 2754 | From: Utah | Registered: Apr 2006
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quote:Originally posted by invester: I hope you got my post in time Cassity.
Sure did, I had a very small position (4000 shares) on Tuesday that I bought at .75 and sold them AH on Tuesday night at .60. Figured there was no point in losing all of it. Made about 400% off this bad boy from .31 to 1.20's range..can't complain..GLTY
posted
Damn they went cheap, and to late to be that cheap if I must say. The credit markets have thawed. They had almost $30 billion in assets and they couldn't secure a $1 billion loan from anyone? Anyone???? I thought we lived in a democracy. I tell ya, after Hank Paulson, I've changed my views for a while.
Posts: 4381 | From: houston | Registered: Mar 2006
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