Eight months after abandoning plans to sell itself, BankUnited (BKU) in Miami Lakes, Fla., is once again weighing offers from potential buyers, the New York Post reported Friday.
Citing unnamed sources, the Post said that while the $12.4 billion-asset BankUnited is not in formal discussions with any larger banks it would be open to an offer of between $27 and $29 a share. Before declaring its intention in January to
BankUnited's shares were trading at $26.05 midday Friday, up 1.4% from Thursday's close. They are up roughly 15% since the start of 2012.
The Post said that potential buyers could include Toronto-Dominion's TD Bank and BB&T (BBT), both of which are eyeing expansion in Florida. In July, BB&T added 80 branches and more than $3 billion of deposits in Florida when it acquired Fort Lauderdale-based BankAtlantic.
Though BankUnited formally took itself off the block in January, Chief Executive John A. Kanas has said that he would consider a sale if the right offer came along. "We have no interest in soliciting bids," he reiterated in an interview with the Post. "But I'm the head of a public company, so if there's an [attractive] offer we'd have to consider it."
For now, Kanas said BankUnited intends to continue bulking up in Florida and New York. The bank has added more than a dozen branches in Florida over the last year and it recently entered New York by acquiring Herald National Bank.
However, BankUnited is prohibited from buying any more banks in New York until Feb. 1, a condition of a recent agreement struck with Capital One Financial (COF). Kanas is the former head of North Fork Bank in New York, which was sold to Capital One in 2006. Capital One claimed that BankUnited's purchase of Herald National violated Kanas' noncompete agreement.
