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Allianz SE, Europe’s second-largest insurance company and Germany’s largest, has acquired nearly 25% of MicroStrategy’s recent convertible note offering. The investment marks a substantial endorsement of Bitcoin by a major financial institution.
Allianz Wants Bitcoin Exposure
Allianz purchased 24.75% of MicroStrategy‘s $2.6 billion note sale intended for institutional investors, which closed on November 21. The investment was made across four of Allianz’s sub-organizations, according to Bloomberg Terminal data shared by the pseudonymous analyst Petruschki in a November 22 post on X: “German insurance giant Allianz bought 24.75% of MicroStrategy’s 2031 bond.”
He further detailed: “The positions were filed in July and October. The shares are held by the following sub-organizations: Allianz Global Investors Luxembourg 14.34%, Allianz Global Investors of America LP 6.64%, Nicholas Applegate Capital Management Inc. 3.74%, and Allianz Global Investors GmbH 0.04%.”
MicroStrategy, known as the world’s largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, initially announced a $1.75 billion aggregate principal amount of notes on November 18. However, due to strong institutional demand, the company upsized the offering to $2.6 billion just two days later.
The completion of the note offering on November 21 raised $3 billion in capital, indicating that initial purchasers exercised the option to buy the maximum amount of additional notes available. Michael Saylor, founder and Executive Chairman of MicroStrategy, confirmed the successful closure of the offering.
The allocation of the convertible notes showcases a diverse range of institutional investors. Allianz SE stands as the largest investor with 149,455 shares, accounting for 24.75% of the total offering. Calamos Partners LLC follows with 37,329 shares (6.18%), and Context Capital Management LLC holds 30,500 shares (5.05%).
Other notable investors include State Street Corp with 8,307 shares (1.38%) and FMR LLC with 7,199 shares (1.19%). BlackRock, Schroders PLC, and the Royal Bank of Canada also participated, each holding less than 1% of the shares.
This influx of institutional capital comes at a pivotal moment for Bitcoin, as the cryptocurrency approaches the historical milestone of $100,000. The investment by Allianz is seen by many as a strong vote of confidence in Bitcoin’s long-term potential.
Patrick Dotson, Co-Founder and COO of Synnax, commented on the development via X: “In yet again another example of Wall Street FOMO (among those asset managers not allowed to invest directly in Bitcoin), MSTR just issued a $2.6bn Convertible Bond, upsizing it by a whopping $850m from the initial offer. The interest MSTR will pay? ZERO. […] In case you wonder who is handing money on a silver plate to MSTR to buy more Bitcoin. […] Do you see any retail on the list? No, blame Wall Street, not Saylor.”
At press time, BTC traded at $97,812.
Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
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