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BankUnited Bidders Said to Seek Receivership Before Purchase
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By Jonathan Keehner and Jason Kelly
May 14 (Bloomberg) -- Bidders for BankUnited Financial Corp. are asking federal regulators to put the company into receivership before selling its assets, a step that could wipe out shareholders, people familiar with the matter said.
BankUnited, the biggest lender based in Florida, has more than tripled in the past month in Nasdaq Stock Market trading on speculation the company would be acquired. In a receivership, bidders would buy the bank’s assets from the government.
Potential buyers, including a private-equity group led by former North Fork Bancorp Chief Executive Officer John Kanas, have expressed an interest in purchasing the Coral Gables, Florida-based lender out of receivership, said the people, who declined to be named because the talks are private. The bidding deadline was pushed to May 19 from today, the people said, which may help the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. find a buyer willing to avert receivership.
“Receivership is akin to bankruptcy and appealing to buyers because they don’t have to pay for the equity,” said Steven Kaplan, a professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. “In a receivership, the common equity gets completely wiped out.”
Federal regulators earlier this year declared BankUnited “critically undercapitalized” and ordered the lender to find a buyer. The FDIC has been named the receiver for 33 banks that have failed this year, and found buyers for most.
Carlyle, Blackstone
The Kanas team includes Carlyle Group, Blackstone Group LP, Centerbridge Capital Partners LLC and WL Ross & Co., to which Kanas is an adviser. Other potential bidders include private- equity firm J.C. Flowers & Co.
New York-based Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is weighing a bid with Toronto-Dominion Bank, people familiar with the matter said.
Representatives for the Kanas-led group and Goldman Sachs declined to comment. Calls to Flowers’s office and BankUnited spokeswoman Melissa Gracey weren’t returned.
FDIC spokesman Andrew Gray declined to comment, saying the agency doesn’t comment on open and operating institutions.
BankUnited said in a regulatory filing this week that its loss for the period ended March 31 widened more than sixfold from surging defaults on option adjustable-rate mortgages. The lender said it was unable to file complete quarterly results by yesterday’s deadline because of “adverse market conditions” as well as accounting and regulatory issues.
To contact the reporters on this story: Jonathan Keehner in New York at jkeehner@bloomberg.net; Jason Kelly in New York at jkelly14@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: May 14, 2009 13:17 EDT
I read that but I would refrain from buying it.. News on bloomberg says they want to place in receivership first. So I assume they dont want to pay shareholders.. I guess everyone is a crook on Wall Street.. IMO
Bids due Thursday for struggling BankUnited
Federal regulators ordered last month that it find a merger partner or buyer
By Paul Owers | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
6:46 PM EDT, May 13, 2009
Final bids are due Thursday for ailing BankUnited, the largest bank headquartered in Florida.
John Kanas, former chief executive of New York's North Fork Bancorp, is thought to be leading an effort to acquire the bank's parent, Coral Gables-based BankUnited Financial Corp.
Kanas, 62, is an adviser to billionaire Wilbur Ross, a Palm Beach resident. Carlyle Group and Blackstone Group LP, owner of the Boca Resort and Club, also are expected to be part of the bid.
BankUnited was ordered last month by federal regulators to find a merger partner or buyer. The bank, hammered by problem loans made during the housing boom, said last year it had "substantial doubt" about its ability to survive.
BankUnited and Kanas could not be reached to comment Wednesday. The Office of Thrift Supervision and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. declined to comment.
Kanas, who sold North Fork to Capital One Financial Corp. in 2006 for $13.2 billion, is a respected banker who delivers solid results, said Miami banking analyst Ken Thomas. But he and his group are Wall Street players who will buy low, build the bank back up and then sell it, Thomas said.
"What would be best for the consumers is for a bank to come in that's going to be here for the long haul," Thomas said, mentioning TD Banknorth of Portland, Maine, and U.S. Bank in Minnesota as ideal candidates to take over BankUnited.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Toronto-Dominion Bank, Canada's second-largest lender by assets, also are said to be interested in BankUnited. J.C. Flowers & Co., the New York private-equity company run by J. Christopher Flowers, could bid as well.
This week, BankUnited told the Securities and Exchange Commission that its loss in the quarter ended March 31 rose to $443.1 million from a loss of $65.8 million. The bank said it was unable to file complete results, citing, among other factors, "adverse market conditions" and "material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting."
The bank's stock has fallen more than 80 percent in the past year. Its shares on the Nasdaq Stock Market closed Wednesday at 76 cents, down 84 cents.
BankUnited, founded in 1984, had total assets of $14 billion as of June 30. It has more than 80 offices in Florida, including 16 in Palm Beach County and 23 in Broward County Click here for restaurant inspection reports.
Can someone pay a visit to this reporter?? Maybe u can explain that the date was extended to the 14th?? Way to create more panic.. Two days in a row..
May 13, 2009, 2:09 p.m. EST
BankUnited slumps 32% on FDIC receivership warning
Florida bank says it missed regulatory deadline for raising up to $1 billionExplore related topics
Banks BankUnited Financial Corp Corus Bankshares Inc
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - BankUnited Financial shares slumped 31% Wednesday after the Florida bank warned that it could be forced into receivership by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation because it missed a regulatory deadline to raise as much as $1 billion in new capital.
BankUnited entered into an agreement with the Office of Thrift Supervision on April 14 that required the lender to meet certain minimum capital levels. At the end of March, the bank needed between $706 million and roughly $1 billion to meet those targets, according to a regulatory filing late Tuesday.
The deadline to raise that capital expired May 4. That leaves the bank "subject to regulatory enforcement actions, including the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation receivership," BankUnited added in the filing.
BankUnited shares slumped 31% to $1.11 during afternoon trading Wednesday.
The stock has rallied in recent weeks on hopes that the bank may be acquired. In February, the Financial Times reported that distressed debt investor Wilbur Ross and private-equity firm the Carlyle Group were considering a joint bid for BankUnited.
In its late Tuesday filing, BankUnited said it's been trying to raise capital at the holding company level for more than a year. The company has since switched to focus on getting capital to support its main bank subsidiary.
"No assurance can be given that we will be able to raise capital at either the Bank or the holding company level," the company warned. "In addition, a recapitalization of the Bank without a simultaneous recapitalization of the holding company would reduce or eliminate the Company's ownership in the Bank, thus raising substantial doubt about the Company's ability to continue as a going concern."
BankUnited, based in Coral Gables, just south of Miami, Florida, has been hit hard by the real estate slump in the state.
Other banks active in Florida are also suffering. Chicago-based Corus Bancshares /quotes/comstock/15*!cors/quotes/nls/cors (CORS 0.68, -0.23, -25.27%) , which was a leading lender for condo construction in cities including Miami, warned on May 1 that banking regulators may place it into "conservatorship or receivership."
BankUnited expects a fiscal second-quarter loss of $443.1 million, or $12.55 a share, versus a loss of $65.8 million, or $1.88 a share, a year earlier. The increased losses were partly driven by big provisions to cover losses in its portfolio of option adjustable-rate mortgages.
Alistair Barr is a reporter for MarketWatch in San Francisco.
S&P upgrade BKUNA to 1.50.. Panic was nonsense. OLD news.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a2Jn0DloMBow&refer=home
With all the money u make, no steak?
Well WAMU was probably a favor since the purchase B STERNS..
Cool Bro. Unlike WAMU the regulators r helping with the sale.. Kinda of Interesting huh?
bro I want steak...
35 million OS.. Article said even with all the problems brand and assets worth 500 milion.. Could be an easy 4-6 dollar as long as they find a buyer.. 3 bidders in the mix.. May 14th I think is deadline
HAYZ CLOSED at .29. They filed BK now PRE at .11 could bounce watch it.
BKUNA looking good and CNB is a MONSTA.
Morning all..
HBAN flying.............
Morning all.. Welcome THUMBS.......
Actually I think Cramer said something good about it on cnbc.. Not that, that means much..
Nice...
How long does the approval take?
Do they something up for approval and when?
Penny guys r freaking selling off like crazy.. Huge returns
It goes along with VNDA... No way to get in. ITs a pink. But VNDA is Big board stock.. Look at it. Crazy.. FDA approval..
.o5 cents to 1.55 at the moment and gonna keep going..
Morning Loniee
Looks like we missed VNDA.. Damn.......
Link to bill..........
http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/financialsvcs_dem/21frank_008_xml.pdf
Barney Frank Finally Unveils Bill to Legalize Online Gambling
Posted on 6 May 2009 at 12:37 pm EDT by Joseph Ewens | Permalink
The Chairman of the House Financial Committee in Washington, Barney Frank, has today unveiled his latest attempt at re-legalizing online gambling. Frank has been a consistent supporter of poker and gambling in general and is seen by many as the industry’s most powerful political ally.
The ‘Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act’ does not set out to repeal the UIGEA, merely to craft exemptions for those companies who fulfill the regulations it sets out. Gambling companies who wish to legally reenter the U.S. will be required to acquire an operating license and will be held up to a standard of acceptable behavior.
Before descending into dense technical detail concerning the application of these new rules, the bill lists five conditions all gambling companies hoping to operating within the U.S. will have to conform to. It will be required that sites:
(A) Are in good financial and legal standing, and of good character, honesty, and integrity
(B) Utilize appropriate technology to determine the age and location of users
(C) Adopt and implement systems to protect minors and problem gamblers
(D) Adopt and implement systems to enforce any applicable Federal, State, and Indian tribe limitations on Internet gambling
(E) Have in place risk-based methods to identify and combat money laundering and
fraud relating to Internet gambling, and to protect the privacy and security of users
In the dying days of the Bush administration anti-gambling members of Congress forced through a set of regulations designed to clarify the overly vague UIGEA. Banks were ordered to put in place systems designed to block payments to providers of “illegal online gambling” by December 1st this year. Frank has brought in a companion bill that asks for the deadline to be put back by a full 12 months.
The Poker Player’s Alliance have voiced their full support for Frank’s initiatives. “We are grateful for Chairman Frank’s leadership and will be activating our grassroots army made up of over one million members to help him drive legislation,” said PPA Chairman Alfonse D’Amato. His organization recently pledged to spend over $1 million supporting the cause of online poker during this Congressional session.
It has also been revealed that some of the gambling industry’s big hitters have been lobbying hard in support of Frank’s endeavors. Online horse-racing site Youbet.com have hired a full time lobbyist to work in Washington, as have casino group Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. The firm, who own and organize the World Series of Poker, have spent $405,087 from January to March working to support the bill’s introduced today.
Frank has stated that his primary concern is to “enable Americans to bet online and put an end to an inappropriate interference with their personal freedom.” The Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act is sure to come against heavy opposition, but Frank has been quoted as being “mildly optimistic” about its chances. With grassroots action and big-money industry support behind him these new developments certainly represent the best chance of reintroducing legal online poker to the United States.
No worries.. Waiting to see what Mr Barney Rubble. says.
Great day!!!!
Keep a close stop to maximize profits but last time it ran to 1.40 range.. Only need to worry about earnings on the 11th..
VRNM .80 new HOD
I dont think it floats...
YEP... Could be a buyout price in the dollars.....
Yep.. Great pick over a double in less than 24hours...
I am sure he isnt happy with zecco at the moment
What up!! OPMR looking good my friend..
WOW. DAN is awesome.... Great call Armani
VRNM up 15% in pre
DAN up 10% in pre
SRZ up 9% in pre
OPMR up 6% in pre
Looking good today!
Morning loniee.. Morning all....
Yes OPMR looks very bullish.. Barney Frank just needs to get it done.. Then BAM.. Great pick Dumar