Today, bank-owned Equilend announced that private equity firm Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe (WCAS) will acquire a majority stake in the securities finance firm. The transaction is expected to close in Q2, subject to regulatory approvals. Equilend operates a securities lending trading platform that processes $2.4 trillion in monthly transactions.
Besides the acquisition, WCAS is setting aside $200 million to support EquiLend’s growth, including funding acquisitions.
“We are impressed with EquiLend’s highly differentiated suite of technology solutions and its sustained, trusted client relationships,” said Ryan Harper, General Partner at WCAS. “We believe the Company is uniquely positioned to help drive further electronification, efficiency and innovation in its market.” In July 2023, the private equity firm’s fourteenth fund raised $5 billion in capital, with a total of $31 billion raised across all funds.
Meanwhile, EquiLend is currently piloting 1Source, a DLT-based securities lending platform scheduled to launch in Q3 this year. A key objective of the blockchain project is to enable participants to keep data in sync by providing a single source of truth. That’s especially useful for modifications after a securities lending deal is first agreed. Digital Asset is the technology partner.
Prior to the acquisition, EquiLend’s owners were JP Morgan, National Bank of Canada, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BlackRock, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Northern Trust, State Street and UBS.
