FDIC misses sale deadline for IndyMac
- Share via
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. failed Wednesday to meet its self-imposed year-end deadline to announce a sale of IndyMac Federal Bank.
Talks between the FDIC and a New York-based investment group adjourned late Wednesday without a deal and are set to resume next week, said a person close to the discussions who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly about them.
IndyMac spokesman Evan Wagner, who had spent the last few months declaring that a deal would be reached by year-end, struck an exasperated tone.
“As of today, I can assure you the sale will occur sometime before the end of 2009,” Wagner said.
The FDIC, which has operated IndyMac since the exotic-loan specialist failed in July under the weight of bad mortgage loans, initially hoped for a sale by October, then pushed the deadline back.
The would-be buyers were identified this week as a partnership headed by hedge fund operator John Paulson; J. Christopher Flowers, a prominent investor in distressed banks; and Steven Mnuchin, chairman of a private equity firm that at one point was an unsuccessful bidder for Donald Trump’s troubled casino holdings. The investors haven’t publicly confirmed their interest in IndyMac.
FDIC and IndyMac officials wouldn’t say what was holding up the sale.
One possible snag was an effort by Fannie Mae, the giant mortgage buyer now controlled by the government, to force IndyMac or its successors to buy back bad loans the thrift had sold to Fannie Mae.
Such “put backs” have become common in the industry as loan buyers have argued that sellers misrepresented the integrity of the mortgages being sold.
--
