Investment firm makes big offer for BofA shares

IPIC Group Ltd., a Delaware-based private investment firm, has offered to buy as many as 500 million outstanding common shares of Bank of America Corp. for $6 per share, it announced this week.

If successful, the $3 billion deal would make the group the Charlotte-based bank's largest institutional shareholder.

IPIC said in a news release it would pay for the shares after the offer expires Dec. 23. If 500 million shares have not been tendered by then, the offer will be extended until March 30, the firm said.

The offer represents a premium on the Charlotte-based bank's stock, which is trading around $5.15 this morning, down 4 percent from Tuesday's close and down more than 60 percent for the year.

IPIC has not asked the bank's board of directors to approve the deal. It's not clear who runs the investment firm. Its website lists a New York mailing address and says IPIC is a "newly formed private investment firm organized in Delaware for the sole purpose of making the Offer."