Silicon Valley Adds Unit to Serve Small Media Companies

Silicon Valley Bank, a subsidiary of Silicon Valley Bancshares, has started a group designed to serve media companies overlooked by larger banks.

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based bank hired John Brooks to lead the group, which will target companies worth $10 million or less.

Mr. Brooks said he first approached John Dean, the bank's president, earlier in the year with the idea of offering corporate finance services to middle-market media companies nationwide.

"I chose Silicon Valley Bank because I was looking for a bank that had enough bulk in terms of asset size" as well as "a national presence (and) an orientation toward nontraditional banking" but no established media practice.

Consolidation in the banking industry threatens to leave media companies worth less than $10 million to $15 million unbanked, he said, creating a niche for his group.

"There are thousands of media companies that are being served by a relatively small number of lenders," he said.

Mr. Brooks, who joined the bank last month as a senior vice president, reports to Blake Baldwin, the executive vice president in charge of the bank's special industries groups.

He will concentrate on financing for radio, television, outdoor advertising, and cable television operators. He may eventually expand that to include other segments, including telecommunications and print media.

He is based in the St. Helena, Calif., office. But he said he expects to move closer to the San Francisco Bay Area within the next year.

He also plans to hire a professional staff within a year, either from within or from outside the bank. But for the next few months he will probably be on his own.

Mr. Brooks joins the bank with 15 years of experience in media lending as a commercial lender, investment banker, and chief financial officer.

He began his banking career in 1980 at Chase Manhattan Bank. From 1983 to 1988 he helped develop a media and communications portfolio at New York- based Marine Midland Bank. In 1988 he joined the investment banking firm Hartstone & Dickstein Inc., where he did private placements for media companies.

In 1994 he became the CFO for Baycom Partners, a radio company that owned two stations in the Bay Area and two stations in Oregon. He has been a consultant to media and technology companies in the Bay Area ever since Baycom was sold in 1996.

With $2.8 billion in assets, Silicon Valley Bank has main offices in Santa Clara, Palo Alto, and Menlo Park as well as regional offices across the United States.

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