SVB Financial files for Ch. 11 bankruptcy protection, says it has $2.2B in liquidity

One week after trading was halted for SVB Financial and regulators took control of the holding company for Silicon Valley Bank and other subsidiaries, SVB Financial has taken the next inevitable step: today it announced that it has formally filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. This will mean that SVB Financial can apply, and plans to apply, to the courts to resume activities while finding buyers for its assets, which include going ahead with its plans to sell off SVB Securities and SVB Capital, and more.

As part of that process, SVB Financial also taking the wraps over some of the financial state of the holding company, which had a market cap of about $12 billion before shares plunged last Friday as depositors made a run on the bank. (Trading was halted at the point that the market cap was slashed to about half of that $12 billion.)

It said that the company “believes it has approximately $2.2 billion of liquidity.” Is also noted that funded debt is approximately $3.3 billion “in aggregate principal amount of unsecured notes,” which are only recourse to SVB Financial Group “and have no claim against SVB Capital or SVB Securities,” which are legally separate entities. SVB Financial Group “also has $3.7 billion of preferred equity outstanding,” it said.

“SVB Financial Group intends to use the court-supervised process to evaluate strategic alternatives for SVB Capital, SVB Securities and the Company’s other assets and investments,” it noted in a statement. That effort is being run by a five-member restructuring committee, with Centerview Partners LLC assisting. Any sale process will be conducted through the Chapter 11 proceeding and be subject to court approval, it added.

It also provided an update on the sale of assets that formerly sat within the group.

While there have been a lot of hiccups in the search for a buyer for the banking division of SVB — a process that is being overseen by regulators — in contrast, the group is seeing “significant interest” for SVB Securities and SVB Capital. These two are technically different legal entities and are therefore not included in the Ch. 11 filing. They are continuing to operate while also being shopped around separately to potential buyers, a process that started earlier this week.

“The Chapter 11 process will allow SVB Financial Group to preserve value as it evaluates strategic alternatives for its prized businesses and assets, especially SVB Capital and SVB Securities,” said William Kosturos, Chief Restructuring Officer for SVB Financial Group, in a statement. “SVB Capital and SVB Securities continue to operate and serve clients, led by their longstanding and independent leadership teams.”

As we’ve previously reported, SVB Capital has about $9.5 billion in assets under management, with investments both in a number of major VCs and funds, as well as startups directly. SVB Securities has been around in one form or another since 1999. Based out of Boston, it’s brokered and provided services to startups across nearly 700 deals.

SVB Financial also noted that addition to cash and interests in SVB Capital and SVB Securities, “the Financial Group has other valuable investment securities accounts and other assets for which it is also exploring strategic alternatives.”

The key thing with Chapter 11 is that it will mean that SVB Financial Group can resume operations outside of the FDIC’s control while it works through next steps. To that end, the holding company said it plans to file “customary first day motions with the Bankruptcy Court that, among other things, seek authorization to continue the operations of SVB Financial Group in the ordinary course of business as soon as a hearing can be scheduled. Additional documents relating to the Bankruptcy Court proceeding will be filed in the coming days.”