Orange County Register

A private equity firm is poised to buy what’s left of IndyMac Bank, one of the largest banks to fail this year, reports the Web site Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter.

Evan Wagner, a spokesman for the bank, declined to comment and said the FDIC, which controls IndyMac, plans to announce a buyer before the end of the year.

The entire operation, including IndyMac’s Irvine-based reverse mortgage lender Financial Freedom, are part of the deal, according to Implode.

Here’s more:

The winner is New York–based Dune Capital Management, founded by two ex-Goldman partners. Dune’s Co-CEO Dan Niedich was known as the “dean” at Goldman of investing the firm’s capital in real estate. Chairman and Co-CEO Steve Mnuchin comes from a family of Goldman bankers. The firm was seeded in 2004 by legendary hedge fund trader George Soros.

A sale price for the transaction could not be determined.

Dune Capital has recently been cleared for a bank charter. In principle this means the firm could qualify for TARP funds. The Treasury began issuing special expedited bank charters to private equity groups on November 21st, 2008.

***

Executives inside of IndyMac’s Pasadena office where told Tuesday a deal to sell the whole bank had been made, final contracts were being negotiated, and an announcement would come in the next couple of days. Assets for sale include: $6 billion in retail deposits, 33 California branches, a near-$200 billion loan servicing portfolio and platform, $16 billion in mortgage loans, and its reverse mortgage company Financial Freedom that holds a mortgage book worth $22 billion.

Read the full story by Teri Buhl HERE. The article quotes an anonymous insider at IndyMac who said the deal is still “fluid.”

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• Loan brokers sue U.S. government over fee disclosure
• Did IndyMac’s regulator let it backdate capital?
• State agency halts affordable home lending programs
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