Press Releases
ThinkEquity and SVB Securities Establish Alliance to Offer Stock Distribution Services
San Francisco, CA - August 22, 2005 — ThinkEquity LLC, a research-centric investment firm, and SVB Securities, the non-bank broker-dealer affiliate of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), announced today that the firms have entered into an alliance to offer stock distribution services to their mutual clients.
Beginning in September 2005, the parties anticipate that the new relationship will leverage each firm's expertise, offering clients the capabilities of an experienced corporate and private equity services group. The key employees of SVB Securities' Special Equities Group will move to ThinkEquity LLC, which will manage all the operational activity for this alliance. The alliance will allow clients seamless access to a robust trading platform.
Matthew Clark and Mark Gordon, managing directors, and Kirk Lawton, associate, who have more than 30 years of banking experience collectively, will join ThinkEquity Partners to launch this effort.
The Corporate and Venture Services group at ThinkEquity Partners will provide institutional and individual clients with equity capital markets services that include venture capital and private equity distributions, corporate repurchase, hedging and monetization of concentrated positions. In addition, the group will provide services for special situations such as workouts and PIPE exits and Rule 10b5-1 plans. As part of the alliance, SVB Securities will receive compensation for referring clients desiring these services to ThinkEquity. The relationship between SVB Securities and ThinkEquity will not be exclusive for either party, but both parties believe the relationship will allow each of the firms to maximize resources and provide a superior, more comprehensive client offering.
"We feel this alliance will give our clients a more comprehensive set of services and access to the same experienced professionals," said Mark MacLennan, president of SVB Capital. "Both SVB and ThinkEquity have complementary core strengths and working together should enhance our ability to best serve the financial needs of our clients."
"Adding a team comprising talented individuals like Matt, Mark and Kirk will accelerate the growth of ThinkEquity Partners and enable us to continue building a targeted, leading-edge set of products and services," said Stephen Hohenrieder, partner and director of ThinkWealth Management. "Our relationship with SVB is complementary and allows each organization to better serve our clients through the skills and services of the other."
Matthew Clark will join as a managing director of Corporate and Venture Services at ThinkEquity LLC. He joins ThinkEquity most recently from the Special Equities Group at SVB Securities where he served as a managing director. Previously, he was a managing director responsible for the Corporate and Venture Services business at Banc of America Securities, originally Montgomery Securities.
Mark Gordon will also be a managing director of Corporate and Venture Services at ThinkEquity LLC. Gordon joins ThinkEquity from the Special Equities Group at SVB Securities where he was a director. Previously, he was with Banc of America Securities originally serving as a managing director in Merchant Banking, before joining the Corporate and Venture Services group in 2002.
Kirk Lawton will be an associate in the Corporate and Venture Services group at ThinkEquity LLC. He too joins from the Special Equities Group at SVB Securities where he was a senior agency trader. Kirk was previously a member of the Corporate and Venture Services group at Banc of America Securities.
About ThinkEquity
ThinkEquity is a research-centric institutional investment firm focused on the growth economy. ThinkEquity merger with Panmure Gordon in March 2007 provides its clients with global investment banking services. The firm is dedicated to providing focused insight, advisory services, and capital to institutional investors and corporate constituents in the knowledge economy's key growth verticals, including technology, healthcare, media/education and consumer/business services. For more information about ThinkEquity, please visit www.thinkequity.com. Member FINRA and SIPC.
For more information please contact:
Peter Coleman
Chief Operating Officer
ThinkEquity
415-249-2900
or
Jennifer Jones
650-529-1416
jennifer@jenniferjones.com
About Silicon Valley Bank
Silicon Valley Bank provides diversified financial services to emerging growth and mature companies in the technology, life science and private equity markets, as well as the premium wine industry. Through its focus on specialized markets and extensive knowledge of the people and business issues driving them, Silicon Valley Bank provides a level of service and partnership that measurably impacts its clients' success. Founded in 1983 and headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., the company serves clients around the world through 27 domestic offices and two international subsidiaries in the U.K. and India. Silicon Valley Bank is the primary subsidiary of SVB Financial Group (Nasdaq: SIVB). More information on the company can be found at www.svb.com.
SVB Securities is a non-bank affiliate of Silicon Valley Bank, member NASD, SIPC. Investments are not FDIC-insured, are not bank guaranteed, and may lose value.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The management of SVB Securities and SVB Financial Group has in the past and might in the future make forward-looking statements in writing or orally to analysts, investors, the media and others. Forward-looking statements are statements that are neither historical facts, nor guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are difficult to predict and/or beyond the control of SVB Securities and SVB Financial Group. In this release, SVB Securities makes forward-looking statements discussing management's expectations about future earnings, business relationships and market prospects. Although management believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, and it has based these expectations on its beliefs, as well as its assumptions, such expectations may prove to be incorrect. Actual outcomes and results could differ significantly from those expressed in or implied by management's forward-looking statements. In light of these and other uncertainties, the inclusion of a forward-looking statement in this release should not be regarded as a representation by SVB Securities or SVB Financial Group.