Ex-Tory donor’s bank Oaknorth in talks to buy stricken Silicon Valley Bank UK

Published

2 years ago

March 12, 2023

admin

A business lender founded by a prominent former Conservative Party donor is in talks to buy the British operations of Silicon Valley Bank, the US lender which collapsed last week.

Sky News can exclusively reveal that Oaknorth Bank, which was valued at nearly $3bn in a funding round in 2021, is in detailed talks with banking regulators and the government about an offer to buy Silicon Valley Bank UK.

City sources said that a formal offer would be subject to due diligence potentially lasting for several days, but that Oaknorth hoped to secure regulatory approval for its offer as early as Sunday evening.

One banker said that Oaknorth Bank was competing against rival interest from The Bank of London – revealed by Sky News on Saturday – and ADQ, an Abu Dhabi state-backed investment vehicle.

Oaknorth’s interest is said to be likely to gain support from regulators, given its eight-year track record since it was launched by co-founders Rishi Khosla and Joel Perlman.

Mr Khosla has donated hundreds of thousands of pounds to the Tories and in 2020 hired Lord Hammond, the former chancellor, as an adviser.

Oaknorth is a British ‘neobank’ – or digital lender – which describes itself as a vital contributor to the UK’s technology and innovation ecosystem by using data and analytics to provide banking services to SMEs.

It has a £4.7bn loan book and has lent over £10bn during its existence.

One insider said it was now working to find a solution to support SVB UK’s clients and the wider tech sector, which has been rocked to its foundations by the bank’s collapse.

Oaknorth declined to comment.

The Bank of London’s interest in SVB UK is also thought to be at a detailed stage, with the government and regulators racing to find a solution to the crisis before markets open on Monday morning.

Formal proposals from The Bank of London to acquire SVB UK have now been submitted to the Treasury, Bank of England and the lender’sboard, which is chaired by Darren Pope, a former Virgin Money executive.

ADQ’s interest is also said to be serious, while major UK high street lenders had also been encouraged to explore offers for SVB despite scepticism that they would do so.

Rothschild, the investment bank, has been asked to handle the quickfire process by SVB UK with the permission of the Bank of England.

The Treasury said in a statement on Sunday that the government was working on funding solutions to help hundreds of SVB UK clients meet cashflow obligations.

“The UK has a world leading tech sector, with a dynamic start-up and scale-up ecosystem,” it said.

“The government recognises that, given the importance of Silicon Valley Bank to its customers, its failure could have a significant impact on the liquidity of the tech ecosystem.

“The government is treating this issue as a high priority, with discussions between the Governor of the Bank of England, the Prime Minister and the Chancellor taking place over the weekend.

“The government is working at pace on a solution to avoid or minimise damage to some of our most promising companies in the UK and we will bring forward immediate plans to ensure the short term operational and cashflow needs of Silicon Valley Bank UK customers are able to be met.”

The implosion of SVB’s US-listed parent company, which has been taken into government control, represents one of the biggest global banking collapses since the financial crisis of 2008.

UK depositors stand to receive up to £85,000 as part of the resolution of the British arm of SVB, sparking fears about the fate of substantial amounts of funding in the start-up community.

“We are working at pace on a solution we will bring forward very soon plans to make sure people are able to meet their cashflow requirements, pay their staff,” Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, told Sophy Ridge on Sunday.

“But obviously what we want to do is to find a longer-term solution that minimises or even avoids completely losses to some of our most promising companies.”

On Saturday, dozens of early-stage companies wrote to Mr Hunt to warn of “an existential threat to the UK tech sector”.

In a letter seen by Sky News, founders including those from Adzuna, Curve and Thriva called on Mr Hunt to intervene.

“The majority of the most exciting and dynamic tech businesses bank with SVB and have no or limited diversity in where their deposits are held,” the draft letter said.

“This weekend the majority of us as tech founders are running numbers to see if we are potentially technically insolvent.

“The impact of this is far greater than our individual businesses.

“The Bank of England’s assessment that SVB going into administration would have limited impact on the UK economy displays a dangerous lack of understanding of the sector and the role it plays in the wider economy, both today and in the future.”

The founders warned Mr Hunt, who will deliver his Budget statement on Wednesday, that the collapse of SVB UK would “cripple the sector and set the ecosystem back 20 years”.

“Many businesses will be sent into involuntary liquidation overnight,” they wrote.

“Many other businesses, both in the tech sector and the wider economy – the customers and suppliers of these businesses – will be negatively impacted by these businesses going bankrupt.”

Interpath Advisory has been lined up to handle the insolvency process in the UK.

Business

UK economy grows by 0.1% between July and September – slower than expected

Published

13 hours ago

November 15, 2024

admin

UK economy grows by 0.1% between July and September - slower than expected

The UK economy grew by 0.1% between July and September, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

However, despite the small positive GDP growth recorded in the third quarter, the economy shrank by 0.1% in September, dragging down overall growth for the quarter.

The growth was also slower than what had been expected by experts and a drop from the 0.5% growth between April and June, the ONS said.

Economists polled by Reuters and the Bank of England had forecast an expansion of 0.2%, slowing from the rapid growth seen over the first half of 2024 when the economy was rebounding from last year’s shallow recession.

And the metric that Labour has said it is most focused on – the GDP per capita, or the economic output divided by the number of people in the country – also fell by 0.1%.

Reacting to the figures, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves said: “Improving economic growth is at the heart of everything I am seeking to achieve, which is why I am not satisfied with these numbers,” she said in response to the figures.

“At my budget, I took the difficult choices to fix the foundations and stabilise our public finances.

“Now we are going to deliver growth through investment and reform to create more jobs and more money in people’s pockets, get the NHS back on its feet, rebuild Britain and secure our borders in a decade of national renewal,” Ms Reeves added.

The sluggish services sector – which makes up the bulk of the British economy – was a particular drag on growth over the past three months. It expanded by 0.1%, cancelling out the 0.8% growth in the construction sector

The UK’s GDP for the the most recent quarter is lower than the 0.7% growth in the US and 0.4% in the Eurozone.

The figures have pushed the UK towards the bottom of the G7 growth table for the third quarter of the year.

It was expected to meet the same 0.2% growth figures reported in Germany and Japan – but fell below that after a slow September.

The pound remained stable following the news, hovering around $1.267. The FTSE 100, meanwhile, opened the day down by 0.4%.

The Bank of England last week predicted that Ms Reeves’s first budget as chancellor will increase inflation by up to half a percentage point over the next two years, contributing to a slower decline in interest rates than previously thought.

Announcing a widely anticipated 0.25 percentage point cut in the base rate to 4.75%, the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) forecast that inflation will return “sustainably” to its target of 2% in the first half of 2027, a year later than at its last meeting.

The Bank’s quarterly report found Ms Reeves’s £70bn package of tax and borrowing measures will place upward pressure on prices, as well as delivering a three-quarter point increase to GDP next year.

Business

Chancellor’s Mansion House speech vows to rip up red tape – saying post-financial crash rules went ‘too far’

Published

23 hours ago

November 14, 2024

admin

Chancellor's Mansion House speech vows to rip up red tape - saying post-financial crash rules went 'too far'

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has criticised post-financial crash regulation, saying it has “gone too far” – setting a course for cutting red tape in her first speech to Britain’s most important gathering of financiers and business leaders.

Increased rules on lenders that followed the 2008 crisis have had “unintended consequences”, Ms Reeves will say in her Mansion House address to industry and the City of London’s lord mayor.

“The UK has been regulating for risk, but not regulating for growth,” she will say.

It cannot be taken for granted that the UK will remain a global financial centre, she is expected to add.

Money blog: Britain’s most affordable town revealed

It’s anticipated Ms Reeves will on Thursday announce “growth-focused remits” for financial regulators and next year publish the first strategy for financial services growth and competitiveness.

Bank governor to point out ‘consequences’ of Brexit

Also at the Mansion House dinner the governor of the Bank of England Andrew Bailey will say the UK economy is bigger than we think because we’re not measuring it properly.

A new measure to be used by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) – which will include the value of data – will probably be “worth a per cent or two on GDP”. GDP is a key way of tracking economic growth and counts the value of everything produced.

Brexit has reduced the level of goods coming into the UK, Mr Bailey will also say, and the government must be alert to and welcome opportunities to rebuild relations.

Mr Bailey will caveat he takes no position on “Brexit per se” but does have to point out its consequences.

In what appears to be a reference to the debate around UK immigration policy, Mr Bailey will also say the UK’s ageing population means there are fewer workers, which should be included in the discussion.

The greying labour force “makes the productivity and investment issue all the more important”.

“I will also say this: when we think about broad policy on labour supply, the economic arguments must feature in the debate,” he’s due to add.

The exact numbers of people at work are unknown in part due to fewer people answering the phone when the ONS call.

Mr Bailey described this as “a substantial problem”.

He will say: “I do struggle to explain when my fellow [central bank] governors ask me why the British are particularly bad at this. The Bank, alongside other users, including the Treasury, continue to engage with the ONS on efforts to tackle these problems and improve the quality of UK labour market data.”

Business

Reeves has welcome support from Bank’s governor as she goes for growth and seeks to woo City

Published

1 day ago

November 14, 2024

admin

Reeves has welcome support from Bank's governor as she goes for growth and seeks to woo City

When Gordon Brown delivered his first Mansion House speech as chancellor he caused a stir by doing so in a lounge suit, rather than the white tie and tails demanded by convention.

Some 27 years later Rachel Reeves is the first chancellor who would have not drawn a second glance had they addressed the City establishment in a dress.

As the first woman in the 800-year history of her office, Ms Reeves’s tenure will be littered with reminders of her significance, but few will be as symbolic as a dinner that is a fixture of the financial calendar.

Money latest: UK gas prices spike

Her host at Mansion House, asset manager Alastair King, is the 694th man out of 696 Lord Mayors of London. The other guest speaker, Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey, leads an institution that is yet to be entrusted to a woman.

Ms Reeves’s speech indicates she wants to lean away from convention in policy as well as in person.

By committing to tilting financial regulation in favour of growth rather than risk aversion, she is going against the grain of the post-financial crash environment.

“This sector is the crown jewel in our economy,” she will tell her audience – many of whom will have been central players in the 2007-08 collapse.

Sending a message that they will be less tightly bound in future is not natural territory for a Labour chancellor.

Her motivation may be more practical than political. A tax-and-spend budget that hit business harder than forewarned has put her economic program on notice and she badly needs the growth elements to deliver.

Her plans to consolidate local authority pension schemes so they might match the investing power of their Canadian and Australian counterparts is part of the same theme.

Infrastructure investment is central to Reeves’s plan and these steps, universally welcomed, could unlock the private sector funding required to make it happen.

Bank governor frank on Brexit and growth

If the jury is out in a business financial community absorbing £25bn in tax rises, she has welcome support from Mr Bailey.

He is expected to deliver some home truths about the economic inheritance in plainer language than central bankers sometimes manage.

Britain’s growth potential, he says, “is not a good story”. He describes the labour market as “running against us” in the face of an ageing population.

With investment levels “particularly weak by G7 standards”, he will thank the chancellor for the pension reforms intended to unlock capital investment.

He is frank about Brexit too, more so than the chancellor has dared.

While studiously offering no view on the central issue, Mr Bailey says leaving the EU had slowed the UK’s potential for growth, and that the government should “welcome opportunities to rebuild relations”.

There is a more coded warning too about the risks of protectionism, which is perhaps more likely with Donald Trump in the White House.

“Amid threats to economic security, let’s please remember the importance of openness,” the Bank governor will say.