The parent company of Silicon Valley Bank is buying a Boston investment bank.

SVB Financial Group announced earlier this week that it would acquire Leerink Holdings LLC, the parent company of Leerink Partners LLC, an investment bank focused on the health care and life science industries. Leerink is an established leader in equity and convertible capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, equity research and sales and trading for growth and innovation-minded health care and life science companies.

SVB will pay $280 million in cash up front to the unit holders and will provide a retention pool for employees of $60 million to be paid over five years. The deal has been approved by Leerink’s unit holders and the transaction is expected to close during the first quarter of 2019.

“SVB and Leerink share a focus on providing financing and strategic advice at critical stages in a company’s growth and development,” Greg Becker, CEO of SVB Financial Group and Silicon Valley Bank, said in a statement. “Together, we will deliver a complete capital markets offering – including debt, convertible debt and equity financing – and advisory services – including mergers and acquisitions – for private and public health care and life science companies. Leerink is a best-in-class firm and we look forward to welcoming our Leerink colleagues to SVB.”

The new entity, SVB Leerink, will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of SVB Financial Group. With the acquisition, SVB will complement its commercial banking and lending products with a full range of investment banking services focused on healthcare and life science companies.

The leadership team at Leerink Partners will remain in place and will run the business in much the same capacity as it operates today. SVB Leerink will focus on continuing to grow its business and will partner with SVB’s life science and health care team to support their collective clients more comprehensively, through every stage of their financial lifecycle.

“This merger represents an important step forward for our firm as we continue to strive to be an indispensable company-building partner to our expanding global client base,” Jeff Leerink, chairman and CEO of Leerink, who will serve as the CEO of SVB Leerink, said in a statement. “SVB and Leerink share a strong client-focused culture, uniquely aligned on building long-term client relationships.”