FDIC Won't Give Date for IndyMac Bids

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is offering no guidance on when it will hold the first round of bids on IndyMac Bancorp and its assets. Bids on the thrift -- or its assets -- were originally due on Sept. 15, according to one investment banker who has the offering circular. The investment banker said the FDIC's adviser on the IndyMac auction was Lehman Brothers, which filed for bankruptcy protection on Sept. 15. An FDIC spokeswoman declined to comment on the auction and called the original bid deadline of Sept. 15 "a rumor." Investment banking sources said investors were originally told by the agency that they could bid on the entire franchise or its individual assets, which have been segmented into different pieces. According to one source, the assets include: the thrift's gargantuan servicing portfolio ($180 billion in mostly residential rights) and platform; its home equity line of credit portfolio; a whole loan portfolio; its reverse mortgage business; a construction loan portfolio; and its depository franchise. Some of its commercial mortgage assets are being auctioned off separately. The FDIC took control of IndyMac in July, placing the thrift into a conservatorship.