Dozens of federal regulators swept in to BankUnited's offices in Coral Gables on Thursday afternoon after the close of business and seized the teetering thrift, capping a yearlong odyssey to revive the $13 billion asset institution.
New York banker John Kanas and a group of private equity firms won a bidding contest to acquire BankUnited in a sale run by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
BankUnited, the largest financial institution based in Florida, will reopen all 85 branches for regular business hours Friday morning under the new ownership.
"Tomorrow it will be business as usual," said Kanas, the new CEO who envisions building the freshly capitalized institution into a dominant banking force in Florida. "All the branches will be open and operating as normal.''
BankUnited, dragged down by risky home mortgages that fizzled in the housing downturn, is the largest bank to succumb to loan losses this year and the third-largest in assets to fail in the current downturn after IndyMac and Washington Mutual.
The collapse of the thrift will cost the FDIC insurance fund an estimated $4.9 billion. In the current downturn, only the IndyMac failure cost the FDIC fund more, with a hit of $11 billion.
All customers' deposits are safe at the new institution, which will keep the BankUnited name BankUnited's shareholders, however, aren't so lucky: Their equity is likely wiped out.
BankUnited Financial Corp., the parent company that has about $550 million in debt, was expected to file for bankruptcy protection to provide a process to pay off creditors.