Linklaters has advised The Carlyle Group on its investment in Calastone, the largest global funds network. The agreement sees The Carlyle Group acquire a majority stake in the business from its current shareholders, including Octopus Ventures and Accel. Calastone management retains a minority stake.
Founded in 2007, Calastone has transformed the mutual funds sector through its innovative use of technology and network interoperability. Calastone’s network brings together the entire fund trading process, offering automated order routing, settlement, dividend and transfer services to asset and fund managers. In 2019, Calastone launched its Distributed Market Infrastructure (DMI), enabling the full automation and digitalisation of the fund transaction process via distributed ledger technology. Today, the company serves over 2,300 clients in 43 countries and territories processing £200 billion of investment value each month.
The Linklaters team advising on the transaction was led by partner Alex Woodward and managing associate Andrew Lynch with associates Rohan Dey and Matt Watson. Partner Edward Aldred led on the debt financing of the deal, whilst partner Chris Smale and managing associate Alexei Franks led on tax structuring aspects.
The transaction is subject to regulatory approval.
