Guaranty Bank Has List of Suitors: Reports

AUSTIN, Texas (TheStreet) -- Blackstone(BX), U.S. Bancorp(USB) and Dallas billionaire Gerald Ford are considering bidding for assets of Guaranty Financial(GFG), the second-largest publicly traded bank in Texas that said in late July it would probably fail, Bloomberg reports.

A failure of Guaranty would be the biggest collapse in 2009 and the largest failure since the seizure last September of Washington Mutual, according to Bloomberg.

The Dallas Morning News reports a number of investors are considering bids for the assets of Guaranty Bank and an announcement could be made by federal regulators next week. A spokesman for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. declined to comment for the newspaper.

Analysts speculated that the list of potential bidders could include Ford, who built his fortune in banking; BBVA Compass, a unit of Spanish bank BBVA; and a group of investors that earlier this year bought IndyMac, the Dallas Morning News reports. IberiaBank(IBKC) also could make a bid for Guaranty's assets.

"Guaranty is open for business," spokesman John Wessman said in an e-mailed statement to Bloomberg. "We are focused on providing the best customer service possible and believe we can avoid any disruptions to our customers."

-- Reported by Joseph Woelfel in New York .

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