Moelis Hires SVB Securities’ Co-Head of Investment Banking

Gillian Tan, Bloomberg News

Silicon Valley Bank headquarters in Santa Clara, California, US, on Friday, March 10, 2023. Silicon Valley Bank became the biggest US bank failure in more than a decade, after its long-established customer base of tech startups grew worried and yanked deposits. , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Moelis & Co. hired Jason Auerbach, global co-head of investment banking at SVB Securities, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Auerbach’s resignation was communicated to SVB staff on Monday by SVB Securities Chief Executive Officer Jeff Leerink, said one of the people, all of whom asked not to be identified discussing confidential information.

Representatives for SVB Securities and New York-based Moelis declined to comment.

Auerbach was also global head of technology investment banking at SVB, which he joined in 2021 from UBS Group AG. At the Swiss bank, he was co-head of technology, media and telecommunications investment banking.

SVB Securities senior managing directors Bob Casey and Chris Montgomery, technology investment bankers who moved with Auerbach to SVB from UBS, also resigned Monday, said people with knowledge of the matter.

Departures from SVB Securities are likely to prove a blow to an effort by its parent, SVB Financial Group, which is exploring options for the unit following the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, which collapsed into Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. receivership on March 10. SVB Financial filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection a week later.

The FDIC announced late Sunday that First Citizens BancShares Inc. agreed to buy Silicon Valley Bank. That deal doesn’t include SVB Securities.

(Updates with other bankers in fifth paragraph.)