Goldman Sachs named as defendant in SVB-related class action lawsuit

GOLDMAN Sachs is among the underwriters named as defendants in a securities class action lawsuit related to several of SVB Financial Group’s share offerings in 2021 and 2022, the investment bank disclosed in a regulatory filing on Thursday (May 4).

The complaint asserts claims under the federal securities laws and alleges the offer documents contained material misstatements and omissions, the Wall Street giant said.

Goldman added the lawsuit, filed on Apr 7 in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, seeks compensatory damages in unspecified amounts.

On Mar 17, SVB Financial Group filed for a court-supervised reorganisation under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to seek buyers for its assets, days after its former unit Silicon Valley Bank was taken over by US regulators.

Financial stocks have lost billions of US dollars in value in the aftermath of the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank and saw nervous depositors flee to larger ‘too-big-to-fail’ institutions with their capital.

On Mar 14, SVB said Goldman Sachs was the acquirer of a bond portfolio on which it booked a US$1.8 billion loss, a transaction that set in motion the failure of the bank.

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The loss on the portfolio was the reason SVB, a technology-focused lender which did business as Silicon Valley Bank, attempted a US$2.25 billion stock sale earlier that month using Goldman Sachs as an adviser. REUTERS