Silicon Valley Bank’s wine division gets slightly new name under new owner

After the acquisition of Silicon Valley Bank deposits and assets, the North Carolina-based new owner is letting the Napa-based wine group operate as it had been, the division’s founder confirmed.

Since regulators seized Silicon Valley Bank on March 9 amid a run on deposits, questions have been swirling about what would become of the portion of the business that involved hundreds of winery and other industry clients and a loan portfolio of $1.16 billion. FDIC sold a portion of the bank to First Citizens Bank on Sunday.

The new name for the wine group is Silicon Valley Bank, a division of First Citizens Bank, explained Rob McMillan on his LinkedIn profile Wednesday. He explained it further on his long-running blog about the wine business.

“Our new sponsor has told us they know we are experts in what we do,” he wrote. “There is no cross-over in our business focus, so they want us to do what we've always done,”

McMillan said the new ownership “is a good cultural fit.”

“The past 2+ weeks have been hard on clients and employees alike, but today you will find 100% of the same employees, in the same seats, doing the same jobs as last month, and 100% of our clients still banking with us,” McMillan wrote.

Between the seizure of Silicon Valley Bank and the First Citizens deal, McMillan posted about the potential future of the wine division, saying that at one time a half-dozen suitors were interested in picking up that industry business.

“We think we ended up with the best possible outcome for both clients and employees alike,” he added.