SVB Financial Group, the former parent of Silicon Valley Bank, is closing in on a deal to sell its venture-capital and credit-investment arm out of bankruptcy, the Wall Street Journal reported. Two front-runners are vying in the bidding process for SVB Capital: a duo of Anthony Scaramucci’s SkyBridge Capital and Atlas Merchant Capital, and San Francisco private-equity firm Vector Capital. A court decision on a winner is expected in the next few weeks. The business could fetch anywhere between $250 million and $500 million, the people said, cautioning that a transaction still isn’t guaranteed and would need to be reviewed by the creditors’ committee too. Bankers at Centerview Partners have been advising the parent company on the process. In March, Silicon Valley Bank failed and was taken over by regulators, kicking off a mini-banking crisis that later took down Signature Bank and First Republic. SVB Financial Group filed for chapter 11 protection in New York bankruptcy court, paving the way for a sale of its assets after the technology-focused lender at the core of its business was seized by regulators.
