May 22, 2009

A consortium of private equity firms has acquired BankUnited FSB in Florida after the savings and loan was shut down by federal regulators Thursday.The 34th bank to fail this year and the largest so far, BankUnited (BKUNA) had $12.8 billion in assets, $8.6 billion in deposits and 85 branches. The new institution will be named BankUnited.Similar to a deal it did with IndyMac, the California mortgage bank that failed last July, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. will share in losses on about $10.7 billion in assets.

The bank's new owners will inject $900 million in new capital into the Coral Gables, Fla.-based institution.The FDIC estimates it will take a $4.9 billion hit to its deposit insurance fund.Investors include WL Ross & Co., Carlyle Investment Management, Blackstone Capital Partners, Centerbridge Capital Partners, LeFrak Organization, The Wellcome Trust, Greenaap Investments and East Rock Endowment Fund.