Galaxy Digital delays BitGo acquisition to later on in 2022

cointelegraph.com:

Cryptocurrency investment firm Galaxy Digital has not managed to finalize the acquisition of the digital asset custodian BitGo in the first quarter of 2022 as the firm originally planned.

Galaxy Digital has made some changes to the terms of its acquisition of BitGo, CEO Mike Novogratz announced in an earnings call on Thursday.

“We’ve adjusted the deal some, for progress that BitGo has made,” Novogratz said, noting that BitGo has hired about 150 people since the firms originally signed the deal in May last year.

He added that Galaxy remains committed to “integrating BitGo and becoming an institutional crypto platform” and the companies will continue to work on integration.

According to an official statement, Galaxy Digital and BitGo have renegotiated the acquisition to happen “immediately following” the domestication of Galaxy Digital as a Delaware corporation. The domestication will become effective between Q2 and Q4 of 2022 and is subject to a review process with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, the firm noted.

In case Galaxy fails to complete the transaction by the end of 2022, the firm undertakes to pay a fee significant fee, the statement reads:

As previously reported by Cointelegraph, Galaxy was planning to close the BitGo acquisition by the end of Q1 2022, paying 33.8 million in newly issued Galaxy shares, or $1.2 billion, and additional $265 million in cash to settle the deal.

The new acquisition terms include 44.8 million newly issued shares and $265 million in cash, implying an aggregate transaction value of approximately $1,158 million based on Galaxy Digital’s closing price on March 30.

In conjunction with the BitGo acquisition, Galaxy also planned to go public in the U.S. in the first three