PolySign Inc., in its latest development to improve the quality and breadth of digital asset infrastructure available to institutional investors, today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire MG Stover for a mix of cash and PolySign stock. MG Stover is an industry leader in digital fund administration with an impressive client base including more than $40 billion in digital assets under administration, the world’s largest by a wide margin. The acquisition of MG Stover’s best-in-class fund service capabilities will enable PolySign to deliver a comprehensive, vertically integrated custody, trading and administration offering to institutional investors for cryptocurrency and digital assets. This near-term development accelerates PolySign’s product development plan and paves the way for future service enhancements focused on institutional investors and asset managers.
Alongside this acquisition, PolySign will complete its Series C capital raise, adding new investors to its shareholder base, including Soros Fund Management, Brevan Howard, and GSR. Cowen Digital will also add to their equity position.
MG Stover complements PolySign’s industry-leading digital asset custody and trading offerings for institutional investors. The acquisition closely follows PolySign’s notable developments in 2021, when the company’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Standard Custody & Trust Company, LLC, received its trust charter from the New York Department of Financial Services, one of the most well-developed and highly-respected digital asset regulators in the world. Prior to this, PolySign announced its strategic partnership with Cowen Digital, Cowen Inc.’s digital asset division, which also led PolySign’s $53 million Series B round of funding. Cowen and PolySign have since integrated PolySign’s next-generation digital banking technology into Cowen’s innovative, non-conflicted sales and trading platform. These advances have enabled PolySign to provide institutional investors with secure, compliant access to the multi-trillion dollar digital asset market.
“MG Stover is the ‘go-to’ administration partner for many of the most sophisticated and successful investors in digital assets. Matt Stover, MG Stover’s Founder and CEO, is widely regarded as a visionary in our sector, and we are excited to gain his expertise as a shareholder and a core member of our leadership team,” said PolySign CEO Jack McDonald. “I am proud to welcome the entire MG Stover organization to PolySign.”
“Our success in building institutional best practices for the digital asset ecosystem has helped foster a sector that has grown to over $2 trillion of assets,” said Matt Stover, Founder and CEO of MG Stover. “Joining the PolySign team is going to bolster our core fund administration offering and enable us to develop new capabilities that will shape the way institutions engage in digital assets for years to come.”
PolySign expects to complete the acquisition of MG Stover in Q2 2022.
Macquarie Capital and Cowen served as financial advisors with Perkins Coie and KL Gates serving as legal counsel for PolySign; Houlihan Lokey served as financial advisors, and Bryan Cave served as legal counsel to MG Stover.
About PolySign
PolySign is a transformative financial technology company providing institutional investors with cutting-edge blockchain-enabled infrastructure in support of digital assets across the capital markets and payments sectors. PolySign’s New York-regulated custodian, Standard Custody & Trust Company, is a next-generation Qualified Custodian offering novel, patented technology for securing secret keys.
About MG Stover
MG Stover is a full-service fund administration firm that services hedge funds, private equity funds, and venture capital funds. As the largest digital fund administrator in the United States, MG Stover delivers world-class solutions for institutional investors operating in the alternative investment space, including specialized fund accounting, treasury management, KYC/AML due diligence and offshore compliance. MG Stover has also built a leading proprietary back-office data aggregation and reconciliation software that supports the reporting process of hundreds of digital asset funds.
Photo by Pat Whelen on Unsplash
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