By Steven Church | Bloomberg
SVB Financial Group, the bankrupt former owner of Silicon Valley Bank, won court permission to sell its investment banking arm for $100 million, four years after it paid $280 million for the unit.
The buyers include Jeff Leerink and his management team. Leerink founded the investment advisory and continued running the unit after the bank holding company bought it. The sale is also backed by Baupost Group.
US Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn had initially refused to approve the sale because it released too many SVB Financial executives from any potential lawsuits related to the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank, which was taken over by regulators earlier this year.
But after company officials added some restrictions to the legal releases, Glenn signed an order on Wednesday approving the sale.
After regulators took over its bank, SVB Financial filed bankruptcy with plans to sell its non-banking assets, including the investment bank, in order to repay bondholders.
The bank-holding company has since been fighting the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. over $2 billion in cash SVB Financial had on deposit with the bank.
The bankruptcy is SVB Financial Group, 23-10367, US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.
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