Mishcon advise on the sale of majority stake in Calastone to The Carlyle Group

Mishcon de Reya has advised the principal sellers of Calastone, the world's largest funds network, on the sale of a majority stake to The Carlyle Group.

The transaction, which remains subject to regulatory approval, will see Calastone management retain a minority stake in the business, and will support the business' growth plans including broadening its market-leading product suite and applications of its technology, as well as international expansion. In May 2019, it launched its Distributed Market Infrastructure (DMI), which enables the automation and digitalisation of the fund transaction process via distributed ledger technology, and this transaction will enable it to further diversify its strategies and leverage its use of emerging technologies in the funds process.

Calastone is the largest global funds network, connecting the world’s leading financial organisations. Headquartered in London with offices in Luxembourg, Italy, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, New York and Sydney, Calastone services over 2,300 clients in 43 countries and territories, processing £200 billion of investment value each month.

CEO of Calastone, Julien Hammerson, said: "We have made great strides in the past decade to meet the needs of our customers and their investors in reducing friction and costs within the mutual fund industry. We have continued to expand internationally and created new opportunities in money market funds. This transaction will capitalise on these opportunities and take the company forward into the next phase of its development and growth."

Partner and Chair of the Corporate department at Mishcon de Reya, Kevin McCarthy, who led the deal, comments: "It has been a pleasure to work with the Calastone team once again, and we are delighted to have been able to leverage the firm's strength in both M&A and Tech to deliver a great outcome."

The Mishcon team was led by partner, Kevin McCarthy and managing associate, Pippa Williamson, with Remy Browning, Georgia Haller and Karine Bennamara (Corporate); Stephen Diosi and Caroline Nye-Wilkins (Incentives), Gary Richards and John Skoulding (Tax), Samantha Kakati and Samir Manek (Finance and Banking), David Parsons and Chris Breaks (Employment), Oli Swerdlow (Real Estate), Anne Rose(Commercial) and Guy Wilkes (Regulatory).