Global market infrastructure provider Deutsche Börse Group will acquire the remaining shares in FundsDLT.
The Luxembourg-based company claims it is “a leading decentralized platform based on distributed ledger technology (DLT) for end-to-end fund distribution and processing.”
The acquisition is expected “to be completed in the fourth quarter 2023 or the first quarter 2024, subject to regulatory approval.”
In March 2020 and “via its post-trade infrastructure provider Clearstream, Deutsche Börse Group joined forces with the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, Credit Suisse Asset Management and Natixis Investment Managers to invest in and further develop FundsDLT as the first platform to carry out fund subscription on blockchain infrastructure.”
Credit Suisse Asset Management together “with Natixis Investment Managers have also contributed significantly to the development of the FundsDLT platform as major clients.”
As a key strategic partner and significant minority shareholder of FundsDLT since its initial stages, Deutsche Börse Group claims it has always “shown strong commitment to the company as well as to the relevance of the digital strategy and technology in the funds distribution and processing chain.”
It has helped the platform “to grow, driving efficiency and transparency for Clearstream clients.”
The former shareholders Credit Suisse Asset Management together “with UBS Asset Management as well as Natixis Investment Managers remain committed as clients, helping Clearstream drive the use case development further.”
FundsDLT has successfully demonstrated “the advantages of a blockchain-based distribution model for investment funds in several locations across Europe and Asia and is established as a leading solution for digital cross-border distribution.”
The acquisition of “all outstanding shares of FundsDLT by Deutsche Börse’s corporate venture capital arm DB1 Ventures will make FundsDLT technology and services an integral part of Clearstream’s fund service offering.”
This step will enable the technology “to move to a more industrial scale, complementing and strengthening Clearstream’s current fund processing and distribution offering.”
The integration will aim to “drive existing live blockchain-based end-to-end fund transactions, backed by Clearstream’s fund processing platform Vestima, allowing more efficient, scalable and faster fund investing for all market participants.”
Philippe Seyll, CEO of Clearstream Fund Centre S.A., said:
“The acquisition of FundsDLT is a critical and natural step in our digital strategy. It demonstrates our position at the forefront of innovation and will redefine the overall distribution chain of the fund business. It enriches distribution capabilities, is streamlining operations and bringing asset managers closer to retail clients through blockchain. We will see measurable benefits for market participants, including faster time to market and cheaper access to funds.”
Olivier Portenseigne, CEO of FundsDLT, said:
“Becoming part of the Deutsche Börse Group is an exciting step for FundsDLT and is timely to accelerate our growth. Clearstream has a long history of driving innovation and shares our vision, values and our commitment to this new generation of market infrastructure. Our goal is to enable fund distributors and asset managers, thanks to blockchain and fund tokenization, to simplify their business and operating model and roll out the technology foundation to enable their clients to connect to fund products anywhere, in an easier and in a more cost-effective manner.”
