The following is a round-up of updates on exposure to Silicon Valley Bank by London-listed companies, issued on Monday and not separately reported by Alliance News:
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FTSE 250
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Syncona Ltd - London-based investor in healthcare companies - Says it has cash and cash equivalents with SVB UK Ltd equating less than 0.4% of its capital base of £653.8 million, and 0.2% of its net asset value. Portfolio companies have ‘range of banking relationships’ including SVB and SVB UK, and estimates its indirect exposure across portfolio is around 6% of NAV, ‘with all but a de minimus amount with SVBUK’. Working closely with portfolio companies to support ongoing operations, and engagement with SVBUK and other parties to recovery deposits. Has strong capital base to support portfolio companies if required, awaits guidance from Bank of England over progress and timeline to potentially recover deposits.
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IP Group PLC - Oxford, England-based intellectual property commercialisation company - Confirms no direct deposits, credit facilities or other relationships with SVB or SVB UK. Boasts strong balance sheet, with £241.5 million in gross cash and deposits as at December 31, and total potential liquidity of over £500 million. Working closely with ‘small number’ of portfolio companies that may require short-term liquidity. ‘Our strong financial position means we are well placed to support our portfolio,’ firm says.
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Auction Technology Group PLC - London-based online auction operator - Says SVB is involved in its senior facilities arrangement with syndicate of six banks. The arrangement consists of a fully-drawn $150.3 million senior term loan, and a $49.0 million multi-currency revolving credit facility, which is drawn down by $24.3 million. SVB represents one sixth of its respective drawn and undrawn facilities. Says liquidity position strong, benefitting from operational cash generation and access to liquidity from other five banks in syndicate. As at Thursday, has $10.0 million cash at bank, with 5% held on deposit at SVB. ‘This deposit is held across the group’s different US entities. The group uses JP Morgan Chase and HSBC for its main clearing and operational uses,’ firm says. Expects ‘no material impact’ to current or future liquidity from SVB situation.
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Moonpig Group PLC - online greeting card and gifting company - Says SVB is one of ten lenders in banking syndicate which provide its senior debt facilities. Has ‘significant’ liquidity headroom, including utilised and available facilities of £242 million, which are committed until December 8 2025. ‘This excludes the £13 million undrawn portion of SVB UK’s commitment,’ firm says. Confirms no cash on deposit with SVB UK and no bank account held with them.
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Apax Global Alpha Ltd - Guernsey-based closed-ended investment company - Receives update from Apax Partners, which advises certain private equity funds in which it is a limited partner. Says review is ongoing but exposure to SVB ‘appears to be limited’. Review has not identified any portfolio company with funded debt or revolvers placed with SVB. Small number of portfolio companies have bank accounts at SVB, but the ‘vast majority of which only hold a very limited amount of cash’. No exposure to SVB at the level of Apax Funds.
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Future PLC - Bath, England-based magazine publisher - Says cash deposits with SVB were less than 3% of its cash on hand as at Thursday. SVB also provided £50 million of its £900 million total debt facilities. ‘Of this £50 million, approximately 48% is currently drawn,’ it says. Has access to ‘significant’ liquidity, with £26 million cash on hand as at Friday, and £438 million of undrawn committed facilities, excluding SVB’s undrawn hold.
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HgCapital Trust PLC - London-based investment firm - Says ‘little to no impact’ on the firm from SVB collapse. Says neither Hg, nor any of its managed funds, have related loan or borrowing exposure with SVB. None of its underlying portfolio companies have outstanding borrowings with SVB. ‘A small number of the underlying portfolio companies have limited deposits with SVB, but no portfolio business is at risk as a result of this.’
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LARGE SMALL-CAP AND AIM LISTINGS
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Team17 Group PLC - Nottingham, England-based video game development company and publisher of educational entertainment apps for children - Says Team17 USA, part of its Games Label division has legacy banking relationship with SVB, but the account is ‘no longer used for current trading’. Says exposure to SVB is less than 1% of cash reserves at present, and ‘as such is immaterial to the group’s liquidity position’.
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Learning Technologies Group PLC - London-based learning and talent solutions - Says exposure to SVB and SVB UK does not have ‘material effect’ on financial position. As at Friday, had total cash and cash equivalents of £110.7 million, of which around £11.7 million was on deposit with SVB and SVB UK. Around £9.4 million was with SVB, with around £2.3 million with SVB UK. Requested withdrawal of deposits, and has received £300,000 to date. ‘The company will continue to pursue any unreturned deposits, including if necessary through the relevant receivership process,’ LTG says. SVB was also part of its banking syndicate, which comprises HSBC, Bank of Ireland, and Fifth Third Bank. The facilities comprise a drawn $255.4 million loan - with SVB providing $53.7 million, and an undrawn revolving credit facility of $50 million - with SVB’s share being $10.5 million. ‘SVB’s portion of the term loan will continue to be outstanding until it is due to be repaid or SVB is replaced.’ Says it’s unlikely SVB will fund any future drawings on RCF, but the remaining $39.5 million will be available as normal. SVB was also facility agent for the lending syndicate, and the firm will find a replacement.
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THG PLC - Manchester Airport-headquartered e-commerce retail company - Confirms no exposure to SVB in relation to cash or debt facilities.
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RWS Holdings PLC - Buckinghamshire, England-based technology-enabled language services provider - Says exposure to SBV ‘limited’, with SVB UK being part of its eight-bank syndicated providing $220 million revolving credit facility, having committed around 10% of the facility. Around $26 million is currently drawn down, of which SVB’s share is $2.7 million. Has ‘small’ cash position held within SVB in the US, which it believes with be fully protected under the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation scheme. SVB UK holds ‘a portion’ of its forward currency contracts, and RWS is working to minimise its ‘limited’ exposure to these contracts. Reiterates outlook from annual general meeting statement, expecting to delivery annual adjusted pretax profit in line with market expectations.
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Oxford BioMedica PLC - Oxfordshire, England-based gene and cell therapy group - Says its US facility maintains a checking and deposit account with SVB. Has no accounts with SVB UK. ‘Oxford Biomedica confirms it has no balance sheet risk exposure to the SVB receivership issue.’
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Alpha Group International PLC - London-based provider of financial solutions - Says operations and client held funds unaffected by SVB situations. Reaffirms that all client funds are in segregated safeguarding accounts with tier 1 counterparties, comprised of Barclays Bank, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, and Lloyds Bank. ‘In addition, unlike a bank, Alpha does not use client cash to issue loans, and therefore 100% of client held funds remain in cash at all times,’ it explains. Says it will monitor potential knock-on effects from SVB on its clients.
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BioPharma Credit PLC - Winchester, England-based life sciences debt investment trust - The firm’s investment adviser, Pharmakon Advisors, says firm does not hold deposits or other investments in SVB. Has consulted the firm’s borrowers, and they report ‘no significant exposure’ to SVB.
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OTHER
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Dianomi PLC - London-based digital advertising platform - Says on Thursday’s close of business, it had total cash balances of around £9.6 million, mostly held with JPMorgan and Westpac, but around £3.8 million was held with SVB and SVB UK ‘across a variety of different currency accounts’. They held £900,000 and £2.9 million respectively. Noting developments in the UK and US, now expects these deposits to be fully protected.
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Trustpilot Group PLC - Copenhagen-based online consumer reviews platform - Says SVB UK was principal banking partner. Its immediately accessible cash is $24 million, made up of $19 million cash on deposit with another bank, $4.5 million guaranteed by the US Federal Reserve after Sunday’s announcement, and amounts due to be returned under guaranteed deposit insurance schemes in UK. ‘The board is confident in Trustpilot’s’ liquidity position and resilience. Meanwhile, we have put in place measures to proactively manage our cash position during this period of uncertainty, and wider unpredictability in the current macroeconomic environment,’ Trustpilot says.
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Polarean Imaging PLC - London-based medical imaging technology company - Says at the end of February it had $13.9 million in cash, with $12.4 million held at SVB. $9.8 million of the amount held by SVB is held in money market mutual fund accounts operated by other financial institutions. Also holds $1.0 million in SVB checking account, and £1.2 million in SVB sterling checking account. Notes FDIC guarantees $250,000 of deposits in US. Believes $9.8m MMFA shares are not considered deposits of SVB, and therefore are not part of the receivership estate. ‘However, Polarean may not have immediate access to these funds until the FDIC establishes procedures for access,’ the firm says. Says $1.5 million held by Wells Fargo will fund its working capital needs until the end of April this year.
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Diaceutics PLC - Belfast-based testing laboratories company - Says as at Thursday, it holds £19.8 million in cash and cash equivalents with SVB UK. Is now confident the funds will be fully recovered, following HSBC acquisition. Earlier, the firm had ordered the suspension of its shares on AIM, due to uncertainty about its ability to service working capital requirements. It now removes suspension. Continues trying to get access to the £2.2 million held on deposit with SVB in the US. Following the announcement from the Federal Reserve about restoring access to deposits, it expects to be able to access the funds in the ‘near term’.
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Naked Wines PLC - Norwich-based online wine seller - Says holds cash in variety of SVB accounts in US and UK. SVB is also administrative agent and issuing lender for its $60 million asset-backed credit facility. On Friday, had gross cash on hand of £32 million, £14 million of which was held in cash sweep account with SVB acting as custodian for third party money market funds. Believes it is entitled to return of these funds in full, after completing any procedures required by FDIC. Is uncertain of the time frame in which it will gain full access to these funds. Says day-to-day operations unaffected, and doesn’t expect to incur any loss as a result. Says £17 million available in immediately accessible cash.
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Access Intelligence PLC - London-based software-as-a-service products provider - Says SVB it has deposits with less than £400,000 held across a number of SVB accounts in the UK and US. It expects most of the funds, if not all, to be protected by the UK Financial Services Compensation Scheme and the US FDIC. ‘However the exact timing of when these funds might be available to the company still remains uncertain,’ firm says. Notes SVB is not a banking partner of the company in the Asia-Pacific region.
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Glantus Holdings PLC - Dublin-based data platform for accounts payable and shared services - Says it SVB is used for US operations. ‘Proactively managing’ situation, and does not expected significant operational difficulties. Says maximum exposure will ‘only slightly’ exceed the $250,000 amount insured by FDIC. ‘Consequently, the board is confident that the current situation regarding SVB will not have a material impact on Glantus.’
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Medica Group PLC - Hastings, England-based company which provides services such as X-ray and MRI scan analysis to hospitals - Says SVB UK is part of three-bank lending consortium, alongside NatWest and Lloyds. Says around £10 million of the £30 million revolving credit facility was being used at the end of December. ‘The RCF facility is not required for day-to-day activity, is not forecast to be further drawn and Medica intends to pay this facility down out of trading cashflows within the next 12-18 months,’ firm says. Has no cash on deposit nor conducts any day-to-day commercial banking with any SVB entity.
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eEnergy Group PLC - London-based energy efficiency-as-a-service provider - Says it has no material operating cash exposure to SVB, but maintains a number of bank accounts with SVB UK, ‘primarily used in relation to collections from clients on behalf of project funders’. Its primary relationship with SVB concerns currency hedging, and a fully drawn £5 million revolving credit facility. ‘The board does not expect any material impact to its business, adjusted earnings or cash position.’
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Venture Life Group PLC - Berkshire, England-based self-care product manufacturer and distributor - Says SVB participates in its £30 million revolving credit facility, which is primarily co-ordinated and managed by firm’s main relationship bank, Santander UK. SVB provides 50% of the funds drawn under the facility. The RCF has an option for Santander to take of SVB’s portion, or for another lender to participate in the RCF. ‘The group has commenced discussions with Santander in relation to Santander doing this, and those initial discussions have been positive,’ VLG says. Santander and firm will accelerate plans to refinance the RCF, given that it expires next June. Says firm and subsidiaries have no deposits with SVB in UK or US, meaning no funds at risk.
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Checkit PLC - Cambridge-based workflow management software provider - Says exposure to SVB less than £100,000. Says balance sheet strong, with net cash of £15.6 million at January 31.
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PCI-PAL PLC - Global cloud provider of secure payment solutions for business communications - As of Thursday, had £3.2 million of cash in accounts with SVB, split between the US and UK. Notes US and UK developments ensuring safety of its deposits. Says trading in the second so far has been in line with the board’s expectations.
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Yourgene Health PLC - Manchester-based molecular diagnostics - Says it has £3 million in outstanding borrowings under a loan agreement with SVB UK. Holds around £20,000 on deposit with SVB UK in accounts which are only used to pay loan instalments or associated interest. Says SVB US exposure is for day-to-day trading purposes for small US commercial team, and ‘handful’ of company credit cards. Says the ‘modest’ level of funds held in US SVB account were transferred to other banks last week. Believes remaining SVB deposits are protected by relevant insurance schemes in UK and US.
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musicMagpie PLC - Stockport, England-based used-technology reseller - Says it had a loan arrangement with SVB, but this ended when it entered the three-year £30 million revolving credit facility with HSBC and NatWest last July. Its US trading brand, decluttr, uses SVB for day-to-day activities. Says SVB closure in US is unlikely to impact business because decluttr can use alternative banking relationships. ‘The group had already been in discussions to move its US transactional banking relationship away from SVB,’ the firm says.
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Windward Ltd - Liverpool, England-based maritime predictive intelligence company - Says exposure ‘minimal’, and expects funds to be protected by US and UK schemes. Says exposure amount is less than 0.5% of its cash position, which was $22.2 million at December 31.
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Eagle Eye Solutions Group PLC - London-based marketing solutions provider - Says it has a £5.0 million loan facility with SVB UK, which is draw down by £2.0 million. On Friday, had total cash of around £7.8 million. Notes some funds deposited with SVB in US, but expects these to be protected and available from today. Has no cash deposits with SVB UK.
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GetBusy PLC - Cambridge, England-based document management and productivity software provider - Says its previous loan facility with SVB was cancelled last month, and replaced with a £2 million facility with DJZ Investments Pty Ltd. ‘Following this executed change, the group has no exposure to SVB for any loan facilities.’ Says no exposure to uninsured deposits with SVB, given the announcements from the Treasure, Federal Reserve and FDIC on Sunday.
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The following firms cited no banking relationship with/no exposure to SVB:
Argentex Group PLC
Avacta Group PLC
Cornerstone FS PLC
CyanConnode Holdings PLC
Equals Group PLC
Evgen Pharma PLC
Fiinu PLC
GENinCode PLC
Instem PLC
LungLife AI Inc
Mercia Asset Management PLC
Renalytix PLC
Roquefort Therapeutics PLC
Scancell Holdings PLC
Science Group PLC
Seeing Machines Ltd
Spectral MD Holdings Ltd
Tern PLC
Verici Dx PLC
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