Bankruptcy

BBVT, a Spanish Bank, Buys Guaranty

By mcbride

Evidently, beating out two large private equity groups, Blackstone and Gerald ford?s Flexpoint, ?Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA won the bidding to take over ailing Texas lender Guaranty Financial Group Inc., people familiar with the matter said, in what will be the Spanish bank?s sixth U.S. purchase since 2004.  The acquisition, arranged by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., follows the $1.9 billion purchase by Spain?s Banco Santander SA of Philadelphia-based Sovereign Bancorp Inc. in January. BB&T Inc. last week acquired Alabama?s Colonial BancGroup Inc. in a deal also brokered by the FDIC?.Francisco Gonzalez, BBVA chairman and chief executive officer, discussed his interest in acquiring failed U.S. banks during visits this year with FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair, the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve, the Wall Street Journal reported Aug. 18.?  Recall that Guaranty had spun out of Temple Inland in December, 2007 at the behest of billionaire shareholder, Carl Icahn, who felt that ?Temple-Inland could unlock value through a spinoff.?

Here is a link to this article: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aDJCL.jAN_jc

Michael

Full post as published by Texas Lawyer Blog on August 25, 2009 (boomark / email).