SVB Securities
# SVB Securities

Leerink Partners is an investment bank specializing in healthcare. The firm was founded in 1995 by Jeffrey A. Leerink, and is headquartered in Boston, with offices in New York City, San Francisco Charlotte, and Nashville.

## History

Leerink Partners was founded in 1995 as Leerink Swann LLC. The following year, the bank established MEDACorp expert network as a joint venture with Dr. Dan Dubin. It acted as a strategic knowledge resource at Leerink, using validation of new products and commercial viability in the assessment of company financials, and corporate due diligence in the medial field as part of a merger and acquisition advisory or capital raising.

In 1999, Inc. named the bank as one of America's 500 fastest growing private companies.

A 2010 probe into expert network focused on potential for conflict of interest and insider dealings through expert network across the entire industry. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigated a 2009 merger between Cougar Biotech and Johnson & Johnson in which Leerink advised Cougar. MedaTech client SAC Capital had been an investor in Cougar Biotech. The focus of the investigation was whether any information about the transaction flowed from Leerink via MedaTech to SAC. According to Leerink, the firm operated strict information barriers. Speculations about MedaTech's shut down as part of the investigation proved unfounded.

In 2012, the SEC charged a former Leerink analyst for insider trading. The analyst had obtained confidential information about a merger transaction Leerink was working on and passed this information on to a friend to place trades on his behalf. The analyst gained around $600,000 from this investment and was later sentenced for insider trading.

In 2014, Leerink Swann was rebranded as Leerink Partners LLC, which by 2019, was called SVB Leerink, and was acquired by SVB Financial Group.

In 2022, SVB acquired media and telecom research company MoffettNathanson. Further, SVB Leerink was rebranded as SVB Securities LLC.

Following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in March 2023, the management of SVB Securities planned to buy back their firm from the parent group.

On March 17, 2023, SVB Securities' parent company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, but it was not included in the Chapter 11 filing.

On June 18 2023, SVB Financial Group agreed to sell SVB Securities in a management buyout led by the latter's CEO, Leerink. The deal, backed by funds managed by the Baupost Group, includes $55 million in cash besides repayment of $26 million in debt and assumption of other liabilities. On completion of the acquisition, SVB Securities would be renamed to Leerink Partners. MoffettNathanson LLC, the company's research business, was not included in the sale.

