A firm led by the brother of Steven Hovde — the Madison native who tried to invest in the struggling Anchor BanCorp Wisconsin last winter — bought the assets of a failed Baltimore bank last week.

But that's not a signal that another Hovde will ride to Anchor's rescue.

A subsidiary of Hovde Acquisition, a Washington, D.C., firm led by Eric Hovde, paid $24 million to acquire Bay National Bank in a deal arranged through the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

"We have been looking into other deals. We would like to expand our footprint in the Baltimore-Washington, D.C., area," said Yanni Angelakos, vice president-communications of Hovde Acquisition. He said the firm is interested primarily in the mid-Atlantic region but may consider acquiring financial institutions elsewhere, as well.

Since 1994, Hovde Acquisition has invested in 10 community banks and financial services companies across the U.S.

It is not involved with Badger Anchor Holdings, the group of investors put together in late 2009 by Steven Hovde, president and chief executive of Hovde Financial, of Inverness, Ill., to funnel up to $400 million to Anchor BanCorp.

The proposed capital infusion, announced in late 2009, collapsed in March. Steven Hovde said at the time a team of Anchor's other lenders, led by U.S. Bank, would not go along with terms of the financing by Badger Anchor Holdings.

Although Eric and Steven Hovde are brothers, their companies operate separately. Angelakos said Hovde Acquisition "was not and is not" involved in any negotiations with Anchor BanCorp.

Steven Hovde was not available to comment on whether or not he remains interested in Anchor, which is still looking for outside capital to meet the requirements of federal regulators.