Led by our public equity investment team, M&G's Crossover strategy (Crossover) selectively deploys capital on behalf of the £129 billion Prudential With Profits Fund to fast growing companies requiring long-term, patient capital to fund the next stage of their business journey. The strategy was named Crossover to reflect the role it plays in helping companies with their eventual crossover from the private market to the public world
At a certain stage of a company's lifecycle where the ultimate goal is to IPO, Crossover provides 'growth equity' investment (sometimes known as scale-up investment), which is important for fast growing tech companies in particular, which require years, sometimes decades of expensive research and development to bring their products to fruition. As the name suggests, the capital helps companies to grow in a flexible and sustainable way, safe in the knowledge that it is a long-term investment. Members of the team will often take a seat on the board of our investee company to provide further expertise. Unfortunately, unlike the United States where funding of this nature is aplenty, M&G is one of the few players in the UK that is able to provide funding and expertise of this nature.
Crossover's latest investment is a $20 million injection into Global Futures & Options Holdings (GFO-X), which through its strategic partnership with London Clearing House, will become the UK’s first FCA-regulated trading venue for digital currency asset derivatives. This is an important step for the UK as the only other exchange globally is in the US.
Our funding will help to create a global hub for traditional financial institutions to trade cash-settled digital asset derivatives (such as crypto currencies) in a safe and regulated way whilst supporting future innovation in the sector and building trust and credibility in the market.
M&G Portfolio Manager, Jeremy Punnett, says:
“The lack of regulated trading venues is materially hampering the growth of the digital currency trading market. The UK has the potential to become a global hub for digital asset technology and investment, making London an excellent destination for GFO-X’s new global trading venue. This investment enables GFO-X to scale its operations as the business is set to benefit from investors shifting their trading from unregulated to regulated venues.”
For more information, please view our press release.