On Wednesday, BankUnited Financial Corporation Announced Public Offering of Stock.



BankUnited Financial Corporation (BKUNA) today announced the launch of a public offering of its Class A common stock, with gross proceeds of $400 million. The offering is expected to be pursuant to customary underwriting terms for a firm commitment offering of this type.



BankUnited expects to use the net proceeds from this offering for general corporate purposes, including contributing capital to its bank subsidiary.

Bank United Weekly Chart

Why Now?

Problem Financials

Bank United (BKUNA) $1.90

Corus Bank (CORS) $4.74

Washington Mutual (WM) $6.35

Indymac (IMB) $1.26

Ambac (ABK) $2.03

Keycorp (KEY) $11.35

MBIA (MBI) $6.45

Fifth Third (FITB) $9.75

Opportunities Missed

Bank United Assets

Hmm. What have we here?

little

Bank United Liabilities





Federal Home Loan Bank System

Mission:



"The mission of the Federal Home Loan Banks is to provide cost-effective funding to members for use in housing, community, and economic development; to provide regional affordable housing programs, which create housing opportunities for low and moderate-income families; to support housing finance through advances and mortgage programs; and to serve as a reliable source of liquidity for its membership."



Advances:



"FHLBank Advances. Advance lending is the FHLBanks' main business line. It currently represents about two-thirds of all the FHLBanks assets. These loans, known as advances, are well-collateralized loans used by members to support mortgage lending, community investment and other credit needs of their customers.”



FHLBank consolidated obligations are sold to institutional investors through the Office of Finance. The Office of Finance, which handles FHLBank transactions, is able to sell the debt at rates just slightly higher than Treasury bonds because FHLBank products are rated Aaa/AAA by Moody’s and Standards and Poor’s.



The FHLBanks frequently borrow short, primarily in the form of discount notes, while our membership tends to lend long, primarily to fund 15 to 30-year mortgages. At first blush, this may appear to be a term mismatch, but it’s not. In fact, the FHLBank System intermediates on behalf of its members to reduce term mismatch risk and provide liquidity.



FHLBanks don't fund individual mortgages. They fund mortgage pools. Since these pools are constantly changing, they have no maturity. Consequently, the many term rates FHLBanks issue reflect their member needs, including the advances they use to minimize their own interest rate risk.



The FHLBanks are not the only prominent financial institution that operates this way. The U.S. Treasury does it, too.



Financial Highlights:

(As of December 31, 2006)



* $1.02 Trillion in assets

* $ 641 Billion in advances

* $ 98 Billion in mortgage loans

* 4.41% Capital to Asset Ratio

