Sunday, December 28, 2008

A taste without excessive vig

By Samantha Zee
Dec. 28 (Bloomberg)

IndyMac Bank is close to being sold to a group of private equity and hedge fund firms in a transaction that may be announced as early as tomorrow, the New York Times reported, citing unidentified people briefed on the matter.

The buyers include private equity firms J.C. Flowers & Co.(led by ex-Goldie J. Christopher Flowers) and Dune Capital Management (founded by ex-Goldie Daniel Niedich and Steven Mnuchin) and the hedge fund firm Paulson & Co. (mortgage vulture extraordinaire), the people told the newspaper. The proposed sale is unusual in that it’s one of the first transactions involving unregulated private equity firms acquiring a bank-holding company, the Times said in its Dealbook section.

The investor group would buy the whole California-based mortgage lender that was seized by U.S. regulators five months ago. The purchase would include IndyMac’s 33 branches, reverse- mortgage unit and its $176 billion loan-servicing portfolio, the newspaper said.

(Oh and by the way below is the plan Bair proposed right around the time Timmy G let it be leaked he wanted her out because she was more concerned about the FDIC then the financial system as a whole. Hmmm... sure will be interesting what the Three Amigos propose as an alternative won't it? - AM)

'Under the plan, people who took out fixed-rate mortgages from IndyMac Federal would be able to seek lower priced loans if they were in, or near, default. The FDIC authorized IndyMac to modify loans that were 60 days or more delinquent, allowing monthly payments to be reduced to a level no greater than 38% of monthly household income.'- CEP News December 4, 2008

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