Apollo and Rivals Pushed Aside in Scrum to Own a Piece of SVB

After Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse, Apollo Global Management Inc. and its investment rivals began angling for ways to profit off the once-storied technology bank.

They circled SVB’s loan book. Apollo was also interested in buying the SVB business and staff dedicated to making loans, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Washington had other ideas.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s message was clear, according to people familiar with the matter: Only chartered banks could bid on the firm. Financial regulators wanted to steer the failed lender to another bank that could handle deposits — and they preferred a ...