The Blockchain Group (ALTBG), a tech firm that brands itself as Europe’s first Bitcoin Treasury Company, announced a share-issuance program worth up to 300 million euros ($342.5 million).
The capital raise is structured as an at the market (ATM) program and backed by French asset manager TOBAM, a longtime investor in both bitcoin BTC and the Paris-listed company on behalf of clients, Blockchain Group said in a press release.
The program allows TOBAM to buy new shares at its discretion, based on daily market conditions. The price of each tranche will be the higher of the previous day’s closing price or its volume-weighted average price, with purchase volume capped at 21% of the day’s trading activity, the firm said.
Proceeds are expected to be used to purchase bitcoin, furthering the company’s stated goal of increasing its “bitcoins per share” metric over time. The Blockchain Group started buying bitcoin in November. Since then, it has amassed 1,471 BTC at an average price of $102,507, it said June 3.
Unlike typical ATM programs in the U.S., which use brokers to sell stock into the market, TOBAM is acting in its own interest, not as an intermediary. It will decide whether to hold or sell the newly issued shares on its own criteria and won’t be compensated by the company for participating.
If fully executed at recent market prices, TOBAM’s stake in the company could rise from 3% to over 39%. A shareholder vote scheduled for June 10 could expand the capital raise to 500 million euros.
Shares in the company, which has a market cap of 543 million euros, have risen 20% today to 4.9 euros.