Simpson Thacher is representing private equity firms Centerbridge Partners, The Carlyle Group and The Blackstone Group, three of the four leading private equity investors in a newly chartered federal savings bank which acquired the banking operations of BankUnited, FSB from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, as receiver, on May 21. The new BankUnited will assume $12.7 billion in assets and $8.3 billion in nonbrokered deposits.
BankUnited, which was seized by the government immediately prior to the acquisition, is the largest independent bank in Florida and has 86 offices. As part of the transaction, the FDIC agreed to assume losses on a majority of the purchased assets. The investors agreed to recapitalize BankUnited, which will keep its name, with $900 million in new capital.
The Simpson Thacher attorneys representing Centerbridge, Carlyle and Blackstone are Wilson Neely, Caroline Gottschalk, Lee Meyerson, Maripat Alpuche, Atif Azher, Jeff DeMartino, Nicholas Schwartz, Joseph Green and Tom Lamprecht (M&A), Greg Grogan, Jeanne Annarumma, Aimee Adler and Beth Understahl (Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits), Gary Rice (Regulatory), Gary Mandel and Jason Vollbracht (Tax), Michael Wolitzer, Jonathan Karen, Nentcho Nentchev, Justus Morris, Jason Breen, Tom Bell, Catherine Kidd, Daniel Lavon-Krein, and Matthew McBride (Private Funds) and Janet Gochman and Tamala Boyd (Litigation). Paralegal Carrie Landis also provided valuable assistance.