A consortium of private equity firms including Blackstone Group and Carlyle Group have made a bid to buy troubled Florida lender BankUnited, according to media reports.
Bids for the bank were due in to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation yesterday morning, a source told Reuters. Other members of the consortium are said to include WL Ross & Co and Centerbridge Capital Partners.
BankUnited, which reportedly had assets of $13.1 billion and deposits of $8.7 billion as of 31 March, was deemed “critically undercapitalised” by regulators, and told to seek a buyer or a merger partner.
According to a regulatory filing, the bank became subject to enforcement actions including FDIC receivership when it did not meet a 4 May deadline to follow the regulator’s instructions.
Goldman Sachs Group, JC Flowers & Co and Toronto-Dominion Bank were earlier rumoured to be considering bidding for the bank.
D.C.