UPDATE 1-BankUnited IPO could price $1-$2 above range-source

* IPO expected to price on Thursday, after market close

* IPO could price $1-$2 above $23-$25 range-source

* Financial IPOs tend to initially do better -data (Adds details on financial services IPO performance, bylines)

By Clare Baldwin and Paritosh Bansal

NEW YORK, Jan 27 (Reuters) - BankUnited, a bank bought by private equity firms during the financial crisis, could price $1 to $2 above its expected range of $23 to $25 per share, a person familiar with the situation said.

The IPO is scheduled to price on Thursday night.

The numbers are preliminary and could change, the source said. The information is not public and the person declined to be named.

Florida-based BankUnited has filed with U.S. regulators to sell 26.25 million shares for $23 to $25 each. At the top of the published range, the IPO would raise $656.3 million and give the bank a market value of $2.4 billion.

Over the past decade, financial services IPOs have risen an average of 13.64 percent on their first day of trade compared with only 10.88 percent for the IPOs of all companies debuting in the United States, according to Ipreo, which provides capital markets data and analytic services.

The best-performing financial services IPO was Fortress Investment Group's (FIG.N) 2007 share float. Its shares rose nearly 68 percent on their first day of trade, according to the data.

But after three months of trading, financial services IPO returns have historically matched the average 15 percent returns of all IPOs, according to Ipreo.

PRIVATE EQUITY PAYDAY

BankUnited was bought by private equity firms including Wilbur Ross's WL Ross & Co, Blackstone Group (BX.N) and Carlyle Group [CYL.UL] in 2009 in a deal worth about $900 million. The private equity firms struck a deal with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp to limit losses.

Former North Fork Bank head John Kanas, who invested $23.5 million of his own money in the deal, became the bank's chief executive. Kanas now appears poised to recoup his investment through the IPO and still control a stake worth more than five times his initial investment. [ID:nN2698106]

Of the shares expected to be sold in the IPO, 4 million will be sold by BankUnited and the rest by shareholders. All of the major investors are selling a portion of their shares, and the private equity owners could more than double their investment.

The FDIC estimates it lost $5.7 billion on BankUnited but saved $1.5 billion by avoiding the bank's liquidation.

BankUnited has more than 75 branches, primarily in Florida, and also plans to eventually open branches in New York. As of Sept. 30, the bank had $11.2 billion in total assets and $9.9 billion in total liabilities.

Underwriters on the offering were led by Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank Securities and Goldman Sachs & Co. The shares are expected to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "BKU." (Additional reporting by Alina Selyukh; Editing by Steve Orlofsky, Gary Hill)