BankUnited Deal May Signal New PE Push

An investor consortium's $900 million deal for BankUnited (BKUNA Quote) last week represents one of the biggest private equity acquisitions of a U.S. bank, but is unlikely to be the last.

Private equity firms, including WL Ross & Co., Carlyle Group, Blackstone Group (BX Quote) and Centerbridge Capital Partners bought the seized Coral Gables, Fla., thrift from Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. receivership. The group beat out a reported rival bid made by a partnership of Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD Quote) and Goldman Sachs (GS Quote).

"This is a unique partnership, in that the FDIC engaged in a rather lengthy process of bidding," said John Kanas, the former North Fork Bank CEO who will run the new BankUnited for the investor group. "Quite a number of people were looking at this company and doing due diligence. It's obvious that the selection of our group by FDIC represented the least costly resolution to U.S. taxpayers." ...