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Finoa and Bankhaus Scheich enable professional trading of crypto assets

• For the first time, the Frankfurt securities specialist enables professional investors to buy and sell crypto-assets under the brand tradias – trading digital assets.
• In addition to crypto-currencies such as Bitcoin, digital securities will soon be offered as well
• Custody and settlement are carried out with specialised solutions from the Berlin-based FinTech Finoa

Bankhaus Scheich Wertpapierspezialist AG, together with Finoa GmbH, one of Europe’s leading FinTech for digital assets, offers the trading of crypto-assets from secure custody. A certificate-like digital security (ISIN: DE000A276T93) with a share of a DAX30 company as underlying security was issued in a joint project with the tokenisation specialist Cashlink already at the beginning of the year. The jointly developed service is thus unique in the EU and offers institutional investors and companies the opportunity to trade digital assets from a single source and in a secure and regulated environment. The cooperation underlines the common goal of offering institutional investors professional access to the asset class of digital securities and assets in full. As early as 2018, Finoa started to develop the innovative custody solution that will enable institutional and professional investors to safely hold and manage their digital assets without compromising the necessary flexibility and accessibility of the assets. The crypto-asset trading offering brings Finoa and Bankhaus Scheich closer to their goal of providing clients with a trusted “all-in-one” platform for all investor needs related to digital assets. Trading and custody are natural complements: institutional investors want to buy/sell assets directly from safe custody (in-custody trading) without having to expose themselves to multiple transaction and counterparty risks in multiple trading venues. Finoa’s collaboration with Bankhaus Scheich achieves just that. Legally, trading for Finoa clients is set up as a separate OTC offering under the tradias brand with Bankhaus Scheich. In the medium term, trading orders will be integrated into Finoa’s technology in order to enable efficient execution with one counterparty across multiple trading venues at the best price directly from the digital asset depository.

“With Finoa we have an agile and secure crypto custodian (temporary approved on request referring to § 64 Sec. 1 KWG) as our partner. In the area of digital assets custody we perceive Finoa as a technical innovation leader within the EU, especially in the BaFin regulated e nvironment,” emphasizes Boris Ziganke, Member of the Board & COO of Bankhaus Scheich. “The connection and provision of liquidity has always been the logical next step in our vision to provide institutional investors and companies with a custody and asset s ervicing solution. In Bankhaus Scheich, we are proud to have won a partner who has proven its experience and expertise in the trading of financial instruments as one of the leading market makers on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (FSE) in its more than 35 – yea r successful corporate history,”
says Finoa co-founder & Managing Director Henrik Gebbing.

About Bankhaus Scheich Wertpapierspezialist AG
Bankhaus Scheich was founded in 1985 and is one of the leading securities trading banks on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (FSE) today. The owner-managed bank is active in the business areas Designated Market Making, Capital Markets, Fixed Income Trading for Institutional Clients, Sales & Trading and Consulting. The expansion to include the area of digital assets under the tradias – trading digital assets – brand underscores the bank’s claim to take account of increasing digitalisation through innovation and organic, continuous growth.

Contact
Bankhaus Scheich Wertpapierspezialist AG
Andreas Meyer
a.meyer@bankhaus-scheich.de
Phone: +49 (0) 69 / 348 79 66 67
www.bankhaus-scheich.de
www.tradias.de

About Finoa GmbH
Finoa is a  digital asset FinTech and offers custody and staking services to professional investors. The platform enables users to securely store and manage their crypto assets while providing a directly accessible, highly intuitive and unique user experience that enables direct access to the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem. Finoa was founded in 2018 and is based in Berlin. Finoa is a qualified crypto-custodian  (temporary approved on request referring to § 64 Sec. 1 KWG) and is aims to be supervised the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin).

Contact
Finoa GmbH
Marius Lunding Smith
marius@finoa.io
www.finoa.io

Bankhaus Scheich Wertpapierspezialist AG, Frankfurt am Main, successfully taps Photon Energy N.V.’s outstanding 7.75% bond issue 17/22 (ISIN DE000A19MFH4) as Sole Global Coordinator. The bond was increased by EUR 5.4 million to EUR 43 million in a private placement with Institutional European Investors. The company will use the proceeds from the increase of the bond to build further power plants in the “solar hotspots” Hungary and Australia for its own PV portfolio and to strengthen its financial basis.

Bankhaus Scheich, Cashlink and Finoa replicate a DAX share on the blockchain for the first time

• Together with Cashlink and Finoa, Bankhaus Scheich has replicated a German DAX share as a digital security on a blockchain, similar to an equitylinked note.
• With this tokenization, Bankhaus Scheich offers a solution for the increasing demand for digital securities.

Frankfurt am Main, February 12, 2020: Bankhaus Scheich Wertpapierspezialist AG, together with Cashlink Technologies GmbH, one of Europe’s leading infrastructure providers for digital securities, has for the first time created a share package of a DAX company on the blockchain. In the pilot project, a digital security (ISIN: DE000A276T93) similar to an equity-linked note, a so-called ‘asset-linked token‘, was successfully issued to selected market participants within the framework of a private placement. Finoa GmbH is responsible for the custody of this digital security. The underlying of the digital security was a share package of a DAX company, whereby each share was represented by a certain number of tokens.

The implementation of this digital securities issuance was supported by various partners: Cashlink Technologies GmbH, located in the Deutsche Börse Fintech Hub in Frankfurt am Main, has developed the technical infrastructure of the digital security. This infrastructure includes Smart Contracts on the blockchain as well as all tools for issuing digital securities. Legal advice on the issuance of this digital security was provided by the internationally
renowned law firm Ashurst LLP, which focuses on the digital economy. With its technological infrastructure, Finoa GmbH also ensures the highest security standards in the custody of digital securities.

Bankhaus Scheich Wertpapierspezialist AG is working on further issuances of digital securities, to which other underlying assets will be used. This enables scenarios in which the securities can be traded directly against each other. This significantly simplifies the clearing and settlement process.

‘As a securities trading bank, we see great potential of blockchain technology to revolutionize the securities business. This is also made clear by the federal government’s blockchain strategy. We are pleased to note that Germany is playing a pioneering role here. Our pilot project shows that the technology is already applicable in practice and offers many advantages. In the long term, digital securities offer many more possibilities than today, such as the mapping of assets that could not previously be securitized‘, explains Boris Ziganke, COO of Bankhaus Scheich Wertpapierspezialist AG.

‘Especially at the beginning of the year, numerous experts have predicted the growing influence of digital securities’, explains Michael Duttlinger, managing director of the Frankfurt based startup Cashlink. He continues: ‘The fact that Bankhaus Scheich, as an established market participant, is working with us to implement the idea of a digital security, which is based on a DAX share, is not only a benefit for us as a company, but also confirms the entire ecosystem around digital securities.‘ Finoa Managing Director Henrik Gebbing has created a custodian solution for digital assets with his company that is particularly suitable for institutional investors: ‘We are very happy to support this pilot project of Bankhaus Scheich and welcome a very renowned partner. The project is a good start to 2020, in which we will deepen our partnership with the infrastructure provider Cashlink.‘

What is an asset-linked token?
In the issue, which was carried out by Bankhaus Scheich, a security was issued as part of a private placement, which is represented on a blockchain and behaves similar to a classic tracker certificate. The value of this digital security is linked to a classic security and reflects its performance one to one. In the present case, the shares are those of a DAX company.

What are the advantages of a digital securities issue?
The issuance of traditional securities requires numerous processes and interfaces, which are significantly reduced by digital securities. Transactions are processed much faster. In future, settlement will take place almost in real time. The transparency of transactions can also be increased. Digital securities make it possible to increase the efficiency of the entire securities business and open up completely new asset classes. A further advantage is that buyers can acquire digital securities in almost any small denomination. This increases the attractiveness of digital securities.

About Bankhaus Scheich Wertpapierspezialist AG
Bankhaus Scheich was founded in 1985 as Scheich & Partner Börsenmakler and is today one of the leading securities trading banks on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (FWB). The owner-managed bank is active in the business areas of Capital Markets, bond trading for institutional clients, sales trading, consulting and as a market maker on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

Contact
Bankhaus Scheich Wertpapierspezialist AG
Boris Ziganke (COO)
b.ziganke@bankhaus-scheich.de
https://www.bankhaus-scheich.de
Phone: +49 (0) 69 / 348 79 66 0

About Cashlink Technologies GmbH
The financial technology startup (Fintech) Cashlink is one of Europe’s leading providers of digital securities. The company’s infrastructure, which is based on a blockchain, enables individually configurable digital securities, such as bonds, certificates or profit participation rights, to be issued completely digitally. With Cashlink, securities issuers benefit from a more efficient issuing process and significantly easier processing. Cashlink is supported by renowned partners such as the listed FinLab AG and the earlystage VC seed + speed of the Maschmeyer Group. The company completes its comprehensive range of digital securities by cooperating with internationally experienced partners such as the law firm Ashurst. Cashlink is an official partner of Deutsche Börse Venture Network. The company is committed to increasing the use of block-chain-based applications in the financial industry. As a founding member of the International Token Standardization Association and the European forum “International Association for Trusted Blockchain Applications” (INATBA), Cashlink is actively shaping the future of the securities business.

Contact
Cashlink Technologies GmbH
Inga-Marit Nölle
inga.noelle@cashlink.de
http://www.cashlink.de/presse
Phone: +49 (0) 69 / 34 87 52 76

About Finoa GmbH
Finoa provides custody and asset-servicing solutions for Digital Assets, customized to institutional investors, HNWI and corporations. The custody platform enables its users to store and manage their cryptographic tokens under military-grade security standards, while providing a directly accessible, highly intuitive and unique user-experience. The custody infrastructure serves as the base to a growing product portfolio, such as Prime Brokerage, Lending and Staking. Finoa was founded in 2018, is based in Berlin and granted a
preliminary license approval (§64y KWG) by German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin). Finoa is backed by renowned investors like Coparion, Venture Stars and Signature Ventures.

Contact
Finoa Ltd
Henrik Gebbing
henrik@finoa.io
http://www.finoa.io
Phone: +49 (0) 173 / 161 66 35

Institutional investors have subscribed for 400,000 new shares in ABO Wind AG for 17.10 euros.
The gross proceeds of the significantly oversubscribed issue amount to more than 6.8 million euros. The number of ABO Wind shares increases to 8,470,893, bringing the current market capitalization to more than 150 million euros.
“We are pleased about the capital market’s vote of confidence, which additionally supports our good business development”, said CEO Dr. Jochen Ahn. In view of the growing global demand for climate-friendly and cost-effective renewable energy, there are currently numerous business opportunities for the renowned project developer of wind and solar parks. ABO Wind is working on new wind and solar parks in 16 countries.
The majority of the new shares were subscribed by the Quest Cleantech Fund, an equity fund managed by the Belgian investment manager Capricorn Partners. “As a pioneer of the energy turnaround, ABO Wind is an ideal fit with the Quest Cleantech Fund,” said Olaf Cörper, Partner and Co-Fund Manager. “We are delighted about the attractive entry opportunity.”
Bankhaus Scheich Wertpapierspezialist AG, Frankfurt am Main, accompanied the successful issue, which increased the free float of the ABO Wind share to 33 percent. The founding families Ahn and Bockholt, who together now hold 57 percent of the shares, and the Frankfurt energy supplier Mainova AG with ten percent, did not participate in the capital increase. In the short term, the company is now aiming for inclusion in Xetra trading in order to further improve the attractiveness of the share for investors.

Bankhaus Scheich as well as the securities trading banks (‘specialists’) operating on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange floor and Deutsche Börse AG donated the sum of 70,000 Euro to this year’s Trading Charity, which is distributed among four charitable institutions.
The donation amount derives from the transaction and trading fees received on St. Nicholas’ Day through the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Investors trading shares, bonds, funds, ETFs, ETCs or ETNs on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on 6 December therefore supported all institutions simultaneously.

The 3% convertible bond 18/20 of ABO Wind AG, which was placed with private investors by the company itself in 2018 and with institutional investors in 2019 with the support of Bankhaus Scheich, was converted in a quantity of 425,193 at the end of the conversion window in October 2019. This corresponds to a conversion rate of more than 50%. At the same time, the company’s equity was strengthened by around 6.4 million Euro. The number of shares in ABO Wind AG therefore increased by 425,193 to the present total of 8,070,893 shares. The non-converted bonds are due for repayment in May 2020. Bankhaus Scheich supports the company on an ongoing basis in all capital market issues, including roadshow activities to broaden capital market transparency and improve the trading liquidity of the ABO share.

Bankhaus Scheich has significantly supported the successful placement of the new corporate bond of Deutsche Rohstoff AG as selling agent. The new bond has a coupon of 5.25% and a 5-year maturity. Thanks to strong demand from domestic and foreign institutional investors, the bond has reached a volume of 87.1 million Euro. The placement was preceded by an international roadshow in Luxembourg, Switzerland and London, among other locations. Deutsche Rohstoff AG is now able to use the funds raised to pursue its chosen path of growth consequently over the coming years.