San Francisco Business Times
IndyMac Bank, seized by regulators in July, may be sold as soon as today, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday, citing sources familiar with the situation.
The newspaper cited a spokeswoman at the Office of Thrift Supervision in naming the potential buyers as a team consisting of buyout investor Christopher Flowers, hedge-fund operator John Paulson and the chairman of New York private equity firm Dune Capital Management, founded in 2004 by former Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) execs Steve Mnuchin and Dan Neidich.
Flowers led a deal to buy another troubled bank several months ago. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency approved his application to buy First National Bank of Cainesville in Missouri.
IndyMac might go for $14 billion, with assistance from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to cover losses, the Wall Street Journal reported.
On Nov. 17, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency granted an 18-month “shelf” national bank charter to a group led by Texas billionaire and 1980s thrift investor Gerald Ford, giving him preliminary approval to bid on failed banks through his Ford Group Bank.
The moves signal growing interest among private equity firms to pick up failed banks amid the financial crisis.
IndyMac is the only bank that failed this year that the FDIC was unable to find a buyer. But the lengths the agency is going to find buyers has been the topic of black humor in banking circles. One cartoon making the rounds via email shows a special offer from the FDIC: Buy a toaster, get a free bank.
Others have joked that the only place the FDIC hasn’t turned to yet to sell a failed bank is eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY).
