Bank Touted By Jim Cramer As 'Very Good' Reportedly Considers Sale Among Other Options

San Francisco-based First Republic Bank FRC is reportedly weighing strategic options following the rout in the lending sector triggered by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank SIVB.

What Happened: First Republic, which received a “junk” rating from S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings on Wednesday, is considering a sale among other options, which include shoring up liquidity, Bloomberg reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter.

First Republic Bank did not immediately respond to Benzinga’s request for comment.

See Also: A Look At First Republic Bank’s Chart Following SVB Financial Collapse

A sale could draw interest from larger rivals, Bloomberg quoted its sources as saying, adding that no decision has been made yet and the bank could choose to remain independent.

Why It Matters: First Republic said on Sunday that it had more than $70 billion in unused liquidity to fund operations from agreements that included the Federal Reserve and JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Celebrity stock picker and CNBC host Jim Cramer tweeted on Tuesday that First Republic was a bargain buy, expressing surprise that a big broker wasn’t interested in it.

Last week, he said First Republic was his “new focus” and was a “very good” bank, although its stock tanked as much as 15% following news of SVB’s collapse.

On Wednesday, Cramer tweeted: “We are never going to be able to protect banks that have highly concentrated deposit bases when a couple of big depositors flee. Or we would never have had such a decline in First Republic’s stock.”

Price Action: FRC shares tumbled over 20% to $31.48 on Wednesday’s regular hours, but gained 2.8% in extended trading, according to data from Benzinga Pro.