Silicon Valley Bank’s Chinese partner buys stake in joint venture

BEIJING (Reuters) – Silicon Valley Bank’s Chinese joint venture will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Shanghai Pudong Development Bank after receiving approval to change its name to Shanghai Innovation Bank, a Chinese financial regulator said on Friday evening.

The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) last year was one of the largest in U.S. banking history. Its joint venture with Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (SPD) — SPD Silicon Valley — was in trouble after no buyers stepped forward to acquire SVB’s stake.

In a statement on Friday, the Shanghai branch of the National Financial Regulatory Administration said it had agreed to allow the bank to adjust its shareholder ratios so that SPD would hold 100% of the shares and reduce the bank’s registered capital from 2 billion to the equivalent of 1 billion yuan ($141 million).

($1 = 7.0900 Chinese Yuan Renminbi)

(Reporting by Joe Cash; Editing by Stephen Coates)