Bank of America confirmed Wednesday that it will sell its First Republic Bank to a group of private equity investors for a price tag of more than $1 billion.

The buyer consortium is led by First Republic’s existing management and includes investment funds managed by Colony Capital, LLC and General Atlantic LLC, BofA said in a press statement.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, Colony and General Atlantic are taking about $12 billion in assets belonging to First Republic, and Bank of America is retaining about $2 billion of assets, including a portfolio of troubled Las Vegas commercial construction loans. The paper, citing a source familiar with the deal, said the Colony-General Atlantic bid beat out another group that included Carlyle Group, Blackstone Group, and TPG.

First Republic, which serves highly affluent individuals and business customers primarily in California, New York, and Nevada, was acquired by BofA on January 1, 2009 as part of its controversial Merrill Lynch & Co. purchase. As of September 30, First Republic had $19 billion in total assets, $16 billion in deposits, and $15 billion under management within its wealth business unit.

The transaction, which is one of the few bank acquisitions not facilitated by the FDIC this year, is expected to close in the second quarter of 2010, subject to regulatory approvals. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.