Monex Group is Acquiring 3iQ Holdings Inc. as a Strategic Move

Monex Group 

Oki Matsumoto and Sony Corporation established Monex Group in April 1999. The “Monex” name of the company is derived from the word- money. It visualizes to stay a step ahead in the future of finance.

Since its foundation, Monex has been part of many strategic movements, including mergers and acquisitions, to stay ahead in the industry and keep growing. Monex Group is based in Japan and is a leading financial group. It runs online brokerages, crypto exchanges, and asset management firms.

The board of directors has recently made one such announcement to acquire a majority stake in 3iQ Holdings Inc.

3iQ Holdings Inc

3iQ Holdings Inc. has taken a first-mover advantage in the crypto asset management space. It is licensed in Ontario, Canada. 3iQ is the first in North America to launch regulated exchange-listed funds for BTC and ETH, introduce Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs on the Toronto Stock Exchange, and also to globally integrate staking compatibilities within an Ethereum ETF.

3iQ Holdings has established a secure, transparent, and efficient crypto investment platform that will support diversification into crypto hedge funds with several alpha strategies. It meets the complex demands of institutional investors around the world.

Moreover, the company plans to offer asset management services on an outsourcing basis, looking at the ongoing market trend of the expansion of major crypto exchanges into asset management firms to meet client’s needs.

Reason for Acquisition of 3iQ Holdings Inc

Making 3iQ its subsidiary, Monex will be able to achieve high growth as it will fulfill the asset management needs of institutional investors and crypto asset exchanges. These are also expected to grow in the future.

Monex also owns Coincheck, a crypto asset exchange business in Japan. Chairman and CEO of 3iQ, Frederick Pye, has stated that 3iQ will collaborate with Coincheck as part of its current acquisition. Monex has acquired Coincheck for its strategic development. 3iQ is an expert in crafting exceptional crypto asset products.

With Coincheck, Monex plans to leverage 3iQ’s crypto-related product creation capabilities. It is done to maximize synergies among all of its subsidiary companies. 

The CEO of Monex, Yuko Seimei, stated that it’s their long-term strategy to strengthen their asset management business. The acquisition of 3iQ will help the group achieve its goal.

3iQ is excited to be a part of the Monex group. Coincheck currently has 1.8 million active customer accounts. 

Japan’s government has recently introduced a tax reform that would allow companies to pay taxes on the income earned through unrealized gains from holding cryptos. Previously, to combat the country’s regulatory environment, many crypto firms halted their operations in Japan.

However, in the realm of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Japan has observed increasing adoption of blockchain and Web3 and is expected to continue with the same.

Acquisition Process

Monex will be acquiring 6,630,000 shares, which will result in voting rights in the range of 68.4% to 72.4%. The total transaction value will be around $39,757,000.

TD Cowen will be serving as the financial advisor for the acquisition. Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP are legal advisors.

The impact of the acquisition will not be observed in the current financial year. It will only be observed in the upcoming years. However, the acquisition is a win-win situation for both companies involved. 

With a background in journalism, Ritika Sharma has worked with many reputed media firms focusing on general news such as politics and crime. She joined The Coin Republic as a reporter for crypto, and found a great passion for cryptocurrency, Web3, NFTs and other digital assets. She spends a lot of time researching and delving deeper into these concepts around the clock, and is a strong advocate for women in STEM.