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SAN JOSE - 06/12/06 - Silicon Valley Bank's is celebrating the opening of its new office in London to the entry into Europe of its sister organization, SVB Alliant Europe.

The bank's new office joins SVB's other overseas offices in Bangalore, and Shanghai and will specialize in mergers and acquisitions and private capital advisory services, particularly in the technology and life sciences sectors.

SVB Alliant Europe shares office space with SVB Europe Advisors, which opened in London in 2004 to provide business services and access to debt financing for high-growth technology companies and private equity firms.
 
The move to expand in Europe was spurred by the increasing flow of tech companies going abroad to fatten their portfolios with high-profile mergers and acquisitions (M&As).

eBay's $4-billion purchase of Skype last year, as well as Yahoo's $579-million purchase of France's Kelkoo and VeriSign's $273-million purchase of German content provider Jamba, both in 2004 are three major examples of the trend, say analysts.

SVB Europe Advisors has been helping US-based companies access European markets for the past two years, while Alliant, a Palo Alto-based investment bank purchased by SVB in 2001, had no operations overseas until now.

SVB Alliant has generated a regular flow of cross-border M&A deals, which now account for more than a quarter of all its transactions.

Future plans call for the bank to set up operations in Israel, as well, according to the bank.

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