Conference Dailys TRADETech FX Daily 2018 Wrap-up | Page 6

THETRADETECHFX DA I LY
latest news
TRADING VENUES
CRYPTO
Thomson Reuters closes deal with
Blackstone, rebrands as Refinitiv
BLACKSTONE PLANS TO CONTINUE INVESTING IN THE NEWLY-REBRANDED
Fidelity Investments
unveils dedicated
crypto trading and
custody business
REFINITIV BUSINESS FOLLOWING CLOSURE OF THE $17 BILLION DEAL.
NEW BUSINESS KNOWN AS FIDELITY
DIGITAL ASSETS WILL OFFER CUSTODY
AND TRADE EXECUTION OF CRYPTO-
CURRENCIES.
F
T
homson Reuters has closed the sale of a 55% interest in the company’s Financial & Risk compa-
ny to private equity firm Blackstone, and has now rebranded the unit as Refinitiv.
As part of the deal, Thomson Reuters said that it received approximately $17 billion in gross cash
proceeds, $10 billion of which will be returned to shareholders through a substantial issuer bid/ten-
der (SIB) offer process.
Of the remaining $7 billion, Thomson Reuters added that $4 billion will be redeemed as debt, $2
billion will be kept as cash on its balance sheet to fund acquisitions, and $1 billion will cover transac-
tion-related costs.
Now the deal has been completed, Thomson Reuters Financial & Risk has been renamed Refinitiv,
with the firm’s flagship Eikon and Elektron desktop services expected to continue to be a pivotal
part of the business.
“This is a unique moment in our 160-year history as the Financial & Risk business of Thomson
Reuters now steps forward as Refinitiv,” said David Craig, CEO of Refinitiv.
“We firmly believe that efficient, transparent and trusted markets are good for all and that Ref-
initiv’s role is at the heart of this, providing access to clean and consistent data on a global scale…
Refinitiv will continue to deliver the critical data, insights and open technology infrastructure that
the market has come to expect.”
The consortium of investors, led by Blackstone and including the Canadian Pension Plan Invest-
ment Board, also said that the new Refinitiv business will invest in a number of areas, including
content coverage, artificial intelligence and analytics across the Eikon and Elektron platforms for
buy-side trading, wealth and banking clients.
“We are pleased to close this landmark partnership transaction with Thomson Reuters,” added
Martin Brand, senior managing director, Blackstone. “Blackstone is excited to invest in Refinitiv
to pursue a business plan focused on accelerating growth through innovation, in partnership with
Refinitiv’s customers.”
6
THETRADETECHFX DAILY
Issue 2
idelity Investments has confirmed that it
will launch a new company for the custody
and trade execution of digital assets in a major
move for the cryptocurrency industry.
Known as Fidelity Digital Assets, the company
will offer trading and custody of cryptocurren-
cies to institutional investors such as hedge
funds, family offices and market intermedi-
aries, the $7.2 trillion asset manager said in a
statement.
The firm added that although there are many
retail service providers currently available in the
market, there is a gap in support for institu-
tions looking to enter the space, citing research
from Greenwich Associates which found that
70% of institutional finance executives believe
cryptocurrencies will have a place in the future
of the industry.
“Our goal is to make digitally-native assets,
such as bitcoin, more accessible to investors,”
said Abigail Johnson, CEO of Fidelity Invest-
ments. “We expect to continue investing and
experimenting, over the long-term, with ways
to make this emerging asset class easier for our
clients to understand and use.”
Fidelity Digital Assets will provide a secure
and compliant storage solution for Bitcoin,
Ether and other digital assets, consisting of cold
storage, multi-level physical and cyber controls
for security. It will also use its internal crossing
engine and smart order router for trade execu-
tion of cryptocurrencies, allowing for execution
at multiple market venues.
“We started exploring blockchain and digital
assets several years ago, and those efforts have
been successful in helping us understand and
advance our thinking around cryptocurrencies,”
said Tom Jessop, head of Fidelity Digital Assets.
“The creation of Fidelity Digital Assets is the first
step in a long-term vision to create a full-service
enterprise-grade platform for digital assets.
“With Fidelity Digital Assets, we’re building
a scalable infrastructure for digital assets that
meets the expectations of what it means to
work with Fidelity.”