FDIC bidding for Silicon Valley Bank is in progress: Report

The FDIC reportedly started an auction process late on March 11 for Silicon Valley Bank. Bids were to be open for just a few hours.

The United States Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FIDC) started an auction process the night of March 11 for Silicon Valley Bank, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed sources. Bids were to be only open for just a few hours before the process closes on March 12. 

According to Bloomberg’s sources, the FDIC is seeking a buyer for the California bank over the weekend, ahead of the market open on March 13. However, a final decision has not been made and a deal may not be reached.

Earlier on March 12, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that she is working with regulators to address the Silicon Valley Bank collapse and protect investors but is not considering a major bailout. She noted that regulators “want to make sure that the troubles that exist at one bank don’t create contagion to others that are sound.” 

According to Yellen, the FDIC is considering “a wide range of available options,” including the acquisition of SVB by a foreign bank. “We certainly are working to address the situation in a timely way,” she said.

A trading platform in bankruptcy cases, Cherokee Acquisition, told the Financial Times that some clients were being offered between 55 cents and 65 cents per dollar for their unsecured deposits. A second source said other customers received offers of 70 to 75 cents per dollar for deposits held at the bank.

“I’ve had a few companies sell 90 cents on the dollar to make sure they make payroll. All of these companies have the SVB effect,” a venture capital investor told the Financial Times. 

The founder and managing partner of Ripple Ventures, Matt Cohen, said on Twitter that financial firms were offering affected companies “aggressive lending terms” under receivership certificates as collateral:

Getting shopped some pretty aggressive lending terms from people spinning up lending facilities to affected companies, with receivership certificates as collateral (0.30 / dollar range, 18m, 12%+ equity)

As you know else seeing these offers???

— Matt Cohen (@mattybcohen) March 11, 2023

It’s unclear if Ripple has exposure to SVB collapse. Ripple’s chief technology officer David Schwartz said on Twitter that an official statement would be released soon regarding Ripple’s potential exposure to Silicon Valley Bank. Cointelegraph reached out to Ripple but did not receive an immediate response.

A Castle Hill audit report listing depositors went dark on March 12. Cointelegraph previously reported that assets from Web3 venture capitalists exceed more than $6 billion at the bank, including $2.85 billion from Andreessen Horowitz, $1.72 billion from Paradigm and $560 million from Pantera Capital.

Silicon Valley was shut down by California’s financial watchdog on March 10 after announcing a significant sale of assets and stocks aimed at raising $2.25 billion capital to shore up operations.