Private equity giants including Apollo, Blackstone eye SVB loan book: Reports

Silicon Valley Bank

Apollo Global Management Inc, Blackstone Inc and KKR & Co Inc have expressed interest in a book of loans held by Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The loan portfolio is seen as an attractive buy and was not a contributing factor in the bank run that caused SVB's demise, the report said.

Buyout giants Ares Management and Carlyle Group are also looking to buy the loan book, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The surge in interest in the book follows the tech lender's failure last week to raise equity to plug a $1.8 billion hole after selling its $21 billion portfolio of securities at a loss.

The fiasco led to $42 billion of deposit outflows in a day and escalated worries of a contagion across financial markets, with Californian regulators later shutting down SVB — a subsidiary of the defunct SVB Financial Services Group.

On Monday, SVB said it was planning to explore strategic alternatives for its businesses, including holding company SVB Capital and SVB Securities.

The bank brought on board restructuring veteran William Kosturos, who was previously the restructuring chief for Washington Mutual that collapsed during the global financial crisis in 2008 in what was the biggest bank failure in U.S. history.

Apollo, KKR and Ares declined to comment. Blackstone, SVB and Carlyle did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.