The SVB Securities management team bidder group, led by CEO Jeff Leerink and backed by The Baupost Group, is buying SVB Securities following a competitive bidding process.
The deal will have the investment banking unit rebranded as Leerink Partners. Officials said it will continue to be a healthcare-focused firm. The management-led buyout is subject to final confirmation from the United States Bankruptcy Court and regulatory approval as well as other customary closing conditions.
“The management team and I are excited to return to our heritage of owning and leading the premier healthcare investment bank and relaunching the business under the trusted Leerink Partners brand,” stated Jeff Leerink, chairman and chief executive officer. “Our firm has been a strategic advisor to our corporate and investor clients for almost three decades and this transaction allows us to continue to provide our healthcare clients with the highest quality advice and execution services they have come to expect for their M&A, capital raising, and investment needs.”
The investment bank has raised more than $230 billion of capital and advised on nearly $80 billion of M&A transactions for healthcare clients.
“Baupost has been a client of the firm for many years, and we know firsthand that when it comes to advisory, trading, or research in the healthcare and biopharma industry, no one is better than Jeff and his extraordinary team,” said Josh Greenhill, partner, The Baupost Group. “When we got the chance to back them, we jumped at it.”
Seth Klarman’s storied hedge fund firm manages roughly $26 billion across public debt and equities, private debt, real estate and private equity. Baupost is expected to continue to build up the SVB unit’s healthcare-focused investment banking business.
