Carlyle Group, Blackstone Group and TPG are leading a group of bidders in talks to buy Bank of America’s First Republic Bank, the San Francisco-based bank that caters to wealthy individuals, people familiar with the matter said, according to Bloomberg.

Carlyle and Blackstone, the largest private-equity firms, and David Bonderman’s TPG may partner with First Republic chairman James Herbert, the news agency quoted some of the people as saying, without identifying them.

Bank of America is selling businesses to raise capital after receiving $45 billion in government rescue funds.

Buyout firms invested more than $1 billion in US banks in May after financial companies worldwide racked up almost $1.5 trillion in write-downs and credit losses in the past two years, the news agency said.

Carlyle, a US firm, is pursuing bank deals through a team headed by former US Treasury Undersecretary Randal Quarles and former UBS banker Olivier Sarkozy.

The report said representatives of Carlyle, Blackstone and TPG declined to comment, as did spokesmen at Bank of America and First Republic, which has banking or trust offices in 10 cities in the US.