The stake was acquired from Calastone’s current shareholders, which include Octopus Ventures and Accel.

Calastone management retains a minority stake in the business. The financial terms of the transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval, were not disclosed.

Founded in 2007, Calastone has grown to become the largest global funds network offering automated order routing, settlement, dividend and transfer services to asset and fund managers.

In May 2019, Calastone launched its Distributed Market Infrastructure (DMI), which enabled the full automation and digitalisation of the fund transaction process via distributed ledger technology.

Today, Calastone serves more than 2,300 clients in 43 countries and territories, processing £200 billion of investment value each month.

A statement from The Carlyle Group said: “Funds affiliated with The Carlyle Group will support Calastone in accelerating its growth, including broadening its market-leading product suite as well as the applications of its technology, and international expansion.”

Fernando Chueca, a managing director in The Carlyle Group’s advisory team, said: “Calastone is a global leader and innovator in the funds technology industry, a large and growing market. Since its inception, the company has achieved remarkable growth through replacing legacy and complex workflows with truly innovative solutions for its clients. We are delighted to partner with Julien and the management team and look forward to leveraging our global platform, network of relationships, and deep expertise in financial services and technology to support Calastone in its next phase of growth.” 

Calastone’s chief executive officer Julien Hammerson, said: “Everyone at Calastone has much to be proud of and there is huge potential for growth based on the technology platform and unique service offering we have created. We are delighted to have the full support of The Carlyle Group to capitalise on this opportunity and take the company forward into the next phase of its development and growth. I would also like to thank Octopus Ventures and Accel as well as our non-executive Directors Chris Wade and Chairman Cristóbal Conde, who have all contributed greatly to our success.”

Linklaters advised The Carlyle Group – the Linklaters team was led by partner Alex Woodward and managing associate Andrew Lynch with associates Rohan Dey and Matt Watson. Partner Edward Aldred led on the debt financing of the deal, whilst partner Chris Smale and managing associate Alexei Franks led on tax structuring aspects.

Barclays acted as advisors to Calastone.

Mishcon de Reya advised the principal sellers of Calastone. 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).