Less than two weeks after Pinegrove Capital Partners began raising its debut fund, the firm has entered into an agreement to buy SVB Capital.
Pinegrove, which is backed by Brookfield Asset Management and Sequoia Heritage, will acquire SVB Capital from bankrupt parent SVB Financial Group for a combination of cash and other economic consideration, according to a company press release.
Pinegrove and SVB Capital will continue to operate independently, each led by their existing management teams, but with the combined long-term backing of Brookfield and Sequoia Heritage. The deal remains subject to bankruptcy court and regulatory approval.
Pinegrove is launching with a focus on venture secondaries, providing customized liquidity solutions for both limited partners and general partners—primarily targeting mid-to-late-stage technology companies.
The Financial Times reported last year that Sequoia and Brookfield had each committed $250 million to the firm and would hold 50 percent stakes in the business. They had also indicated an interest in raising more than $2 billion of outside capital for the effort.
In April, Pinegrove filed a Form D in preparation for those fundraising efforts.
The firm will benefit from a prolonged lack of exits for early-stage investors, who have struggled to return cash to their limited partners through a challenging period for initial public offerings and a slowdown in deal volume.
Pinegrove may be able to pick up discounted start-up stakes from GPs trying to bump up their distributions or LPs looking to sell down stakes in early-stage funds.
Oaktree Capital Management veteran Brian Laibow has taken the top role at Pinegrove, joining the firm as part of its founding team last August. Laibow spent 17 years with Oaktree, most recently as co-head of North America and managing director for the firm’s Global Opportunities strategy. Pinegrove and Laibow declined to comment for this story.