BankUnited Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: BKUNA) today announced the launch of a public offering of its Class A common stock, with gross proceeds of $400 million. The offering is expected to be pursuant to customary underwriting terms for a firm commitment offering of this type.

UBS Investment Bank (UBS) and Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (KBW) are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering. Sandler O’Neill and Stifel Nicolaus are acting as co-managers for the offering.

BankUnited expects to use the net proceeds from this offering for general corporate purposes, including contributing capital to its bank subsidiary.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy shares of common stock, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. The offering may be made only by means of a prospectus and a related prospectus supplement, copies of which may be obtained when available from UBS Investment Bank, Attention: Prospectus Department, 299 Park Avenue, New York, NY 101711 or by calling 888-827-7275 or from KBW, 787 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10019, Attn: Prospectus Department, or by calling 1-800-221-3246. An electronic copy of the prospectus and related prospectus supplement is available from the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release may contain certain forward-looking statements, which are based on management's expectations regarding factors that may impact the company's earnings and performance in future periods. Words and phrases such as: "will," "will likely result," "expect," "will continue," "anticipate," "estimate," "project," "believe," "intend," "should," "would," "may," "can," "could," "plan," "target" and similar expressions are intended to identify "forward-looking statements." Actual results or performance could differ from those implied or contemplated by such statements. Factors that could cause future results and performance to vary materially from current management expectations include, but are not limited to, general business and economic conditions, either nationally or regionally; fiscal or monetary policies; significant weather events such as hurricanes; changes or fluctuations in the interest rate environment; a continuation of the deterioration in credit quality and/or a reduced demand for credit, including the resultant effect on our allowance for loan losses; reduced deposit flows and loan demand; real estate values; competition from other financial service companies in our markets; potential or actual litigation; legislative or regulatory changes, including, among others, changes in accounting standards, guidelines and policies; the issuance or redemption of additional company debt or equity; the concentration of operations in Florida, if Florida business or economic conditions continue to decline; reliance on other companies for products and services; the impact of war and the threat and impact of terrorism; volatility in the market price of the company’s common stock; the company’s inability to raise capital due to challenging market conditions; and other economic, competitive, servicing capacity, governmental, regulatory and technological factors affecting the company’s operations, price, products and delivery of services. Please refer to the documents that BankUnited files periodically with the SEC, such as the Form 10-K for the 2007 fiscal year, and reports on Form 10-Q for the Dec. 31, 2007, and March 31, 2008 periods, which contain additional important factors, including “Risk Factors,” that could cause actual results to differ from the company’s current expectations and from the forward-looking statements contained in this press release.

BankUnited Financial Corporation
Investor Relations:
Susan Greenfield, 305-569-3449
or
Corporate Communications:
Melissa Gracey, 305-817-8117