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U.S. Government Brokers Deal for J.P. Morgan to Buy WaMu Deposits
By ROBIN SIDEL and DAVID ENRICH

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. was expected to announce as early as Thursday night a deal to acquire the bulk of Washington Mutual Inc.'s operations in a deal that would mark the end of independence for what once was the largest U.S. thrift.

Federal regulators have been heavily involved in orchestrating the transaction, which comes as WaMu was besieged by a mountain of bad mortgage loans. WaMu, of Seattle, has been scrambling to find a solution and put itself on the auction block last week. A number of interested parties have been studying WaMu's books, but the bank didn't receive any offers.

While the exact structure of the transaction wasn't immediately known, J.P. Morgan is expected to acquire Washington Mutual's deposits and branches, as well as other operations.

The deal isn't expected to result in any hit to the bank-insurance fund, which would be a huge relief given that some analysts worried that a failure of the thrift could cost more than $20 billion.