Soros-Backed OneWest Said to Plan $1 Billion Dividend Before IPO

OneWest Bank FSB, the lender formerly known as IndyMac Bancorp Inc., plans to pay a $1 billion dividend to backers including George Soros and John Paulson ahead of an initial public offering next year, two people with knowledge of the matter said.

The payout, which regulators still have to approve, would return most of the money a group invested in OneWest as it acquired IndyMac from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in 2009, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans are private. The dividend could also improve the Pasadena, California-based return on equity by trimming excess capital, the people said.

OneWest Chief Executive Officer Steve Mnuchin raised $1.55 billion to acquire IndyMac after the FDIC seized the subprime-mortgage lender in July 2008. OneWest returned at least $500 million to the investor group in a dividend paid in the fourth quarter, according to a letter that Paulson sent in January to investors in his firm, Paulson & Co. Dell Inc. founder Michael Dell and private-equity fund manager J. Christopher Flowers also own stakes in OneWest. 

Source :http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-18/soros-backed-onewest-said-to-plan-1-billion-dividend-before-ipo.html