By Chris Prentice, Saeed Azhar, Lananh Nguyen and Paritosh Bansal
(Reuters) – Banks including Citizens Financial Group Inc, PNC Financial Services Group and JPMorgan Chase & Co are among roughly half a dozen bidders vying to buy First Republic Bank in an auction process being run by U.S. regulators, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Guggenheim Securities is advising the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) on the sale process, two sources familiar with the matter said.
The process kicked off this week after the lender that got swept up in a banking crisis last month failed to come up with a deal without government help, three of the sources familiar with the situation said.
The bidders were asked to give non-binding bids by Friday and are studying the bank’s books over the weekend, one of the sources said.
A deal is likely to be announced on Sunday night before Asian markets open, with the regulator expected to also seize the troubled lender at the same time, three of the sources said.
FDIC, Guggenheim and the banks declined to comment. First Republic did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Chris Prentice, Saeed Azhar, Lananh Nguyen, Paritosh Bansal; Additional reporting by David French, Greg Roumeliotis, Andra Shalal, Anirban Sen and David Lawder; Editing by Megan Davies)
