First Bids on IndyMac Due Monday

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has set a Sept. 15 deadline for the first round of bids on IndyMac Bancorp, telling investors they can bid on the entire franchise or its individual assets, which have been segmented into five different pieces. According to one investment banker who has the offering circular, 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. "They can bid for it in totality or in pieces," said the investment banker, who requested that his name not be used. The FDIC took control of IndyMac in July, placing the thrift into a conservatorship.