KPMG LLP began auditing Silicon Valley Bank in 1994. Why was it still there in 2023? The firm signed off on SVB’s accounts shortly before the lender attempted an emergency capital increase that triggered a run by depositors. But SVB’s vulnerability was in the numbers. Liabilities comprised a big chunk of corporate deposits. These funded assets including long-dated bonds whose market value was below par. The risk was that a forced sale of those assets, to meet deposit withdrawals or rotate...

What’s the point of being listed? Even the bankers are wondering. Rothschild & Co.’s controlling family wants to take it private, arguing investors don’t appreciate the storied boutique bank’s long-term potential. It’s the latest case of private buyers exploiting stock-market indifference. In the US, the trend for financial firms has been in the other direction: Entrepreneurial advisory shops specializing in mergers and acquisitions have been lining up to go public since Goldman Sachs Group...

Investors don't hand cash to private equity just to buy minority stakes in companies on the stock market. They can buy listed shares themselves. But CVC Capital Partners Ltd.'s interest in acquiring a 20 percent stake in Spanish utility Gas Natural SDG SA from oil group Repsol SA looks more than just idle hands trying to find something to do. Repsol is in negotiations with the buyout firm as it seeks to raise funds to invest in renewables, Bloomberg News reported. Usually companies offloading...

The probable sale of Akzo Nobel NV's specialty chemicals unit is a test of private equity's ability to show a little restraint. The tension in the auction seems to be tightening, while the pressure on the Dutch paint-maker to sell is arguably easing. It's a recipe for someone ending up with buyer's remorse. Akzo's own investors, and potential bidders, had been eyeing a carve-out long before it was announced almost a year ago, after PPG Industries Inc. made an unsolicited takeover proposal for...

Leveraged buyout firm sells a company on the stock market, another buys it back. It's been done before, but rarely attempted with the unseemly haste seen at Danish payments group Nets A/S. Advent International and Bain Capital first sold Nets shares to the public in September for 150 Danish kroner apiece. The stock fell rapidly amid worries over emerging competition, before bottoming in March at nearly 30 percent below the issue price. The shares were languishing at 129.50 kroner last week...