BankUnited in Florida said Friday that it has acquired a small-business lending platform and a municipal leasing business from two companies as a way to expand its lending operations nationwide.
BankUnited, of Miami Lakes, bought the business lending platform from Butler Capital Corp. in Hunt Valley, Md. The municipal financing business was acquired from Koch Financial Corp. in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Both operations will stay at their present headquarters.
This marks the first time that the $11.3 billion-asset BankUnited, the largest bank based in Florida, has expanded outside the state.
"These transactions provide an attractive way to diversify our loan portfolio," BankUnited's chairman, president and chief executive, John Kanas, said in a press release.
The commercial finance operation will be renamed United Capital Business Lending and will be led by Bernard Lajeunesse, the former president and chief executive of Healthcare Business Credit Corp.
The municipal financing operation will be renamed Pinnacle Public Finance.
