CoinShares International Limited (OTCQX: CNSRF), the European asset manager specializing in digital assets with ~US$10 billion in AuM, announced the acquisition of Bastion Asset Management Limited, a London-based, FCA-regulated crypto-focused alternative investment manager. The acquisition is subject to regulatory “approval from the UK Financial Conduct Authority.”
The acquisition aims to strengthen CoinShares’ “actively managed capabilities, as the firm continues its evolution into a comprehensive digital asset management platform.” Following completion of the acquisition, Bastion will be “fully integrated into CoinShares, with its strategies, team, and capabilities becoming part of the expanded CoinShares platform.”
The move by Bastion is described as another step “towards CoinShares’ strategic objective to become a global asset manager specializing in digital assets.”
By combining passive beta products like ETPs with “actively managed strategies, CoinShares aims to offer investors a complete solution spanning the entire digital asset investment spectrum.”
Jean-Marie Mognetti, CEO and Co-Founder of CoinShares, said Bastion’s institutional-grade approach enhances their ability to serve sophisticated investors seeking actively managed digital asset solutions.
As part of the transaction, Fred Desobry (Bastion CIO) with “over 17 years of experience in systematic investing and quantitative research, and Philip Scott (Bastion CEO / Co-Founder) with over 25 years of financial services experience and extensive operational expertise, will join CoinShares upon completion and support CoinShares’ continued scaling and expansion initiatives, serving a broad range of institutional clients.”
Combining Bastion’s alpha generation expertise with CoinShares’ registered Investment Advisor (1940 Act) status will “enable the development of sophisticated, actively managed funds in the U.S. market.”
This capability establishes CoinShares a “provider of institutional-grade, actively managed digital asset products, clearly differentiating it from traditional asset managers and crypto infrastructure players.”
As covered, CoinShares is the European asset manager “specializing in digital assets, that delivers a range of financial services across investment management, trading and securities to a wide array of clients that includes corporations, financial institutions and individuals.”
CoinShares is regulated in Jersey by “the Jersey Financial Services Commission, in France by the Autorité des marchés financiers, and in the US by the Securities and Exchange Commission, National Futures Association and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.”