WASHINGTON) (Reuters) — U.S. bank regulators Thursday closed troubled lender BankUnited Financial, Florida's largest bank, and sold its banking operations to a private equity consortium that includes WL Ross & Co.
BankUnited, which had $12.8 billion in assets and $8.6 billion in retail deposits, is the biggest of 34 U.S. banks to fail so far this year.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said it estimates BankUnited's failure will cost its insurance fund $4.9 billion.
The private equity group buying BankUnited is headed by John Kanas, a veteran of the banking industry and former head of North Fork Bank. Other members of the group, besides WL Ross & Co, include Carlyle Investment Management, Blackstone Capital Partners, and Centerbridge Capital Partners.
BankUnited's 86 offices will open on Friday during normal business hours, the FDIC said.
BankUnited is the largest failure since California-based Downey Savings & Loan was closed in November with $12.8 billion in assets.
The private equity group will recapitalize BankUnited with $900 million in new capital, the FDIC said.
The FDIC said selling the bank to the consortium was the least costly option and noted that "in the near future" it will provide general guidelines for how private equity investors can make investments in banks.
"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 FDIC said in a statement.
Copyright 2009 Reuters Limited.
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