Libre Introduces Access to Hamilton Lane’s SCOPE on Solana

Digital Assets

July 23, 2024

• Libre's investment infrastructure makes significant step in expanding access to alternative asset classes, which is now accessible on Solana
• Onboarding Hamilton Lane's senior private credit fund will offer a broad range of investors access to the historically stable private markets strategy

ABU DHABI, SINGAPORE, LONDON -Libre, a joint venture between WebN Group and Nomura's Laser Digital, today launches a next generation Web3 protocol on the Solana network for the issuance and distribution of funds. Alongside the launch, leading global private markets investment management firm, Hamilton Lane (Nasdaq: HLNE) has worked to make its Senior Credit Opportunities Fund ("SCOPE") accessible on Libre¹. This partnership enables Solana's users access to a number of on-chain funds, including SCOPE, as well as the Brevan Howard Master Fund and Blackrock ICS Money Market Fund.

Libre operates as backbone infrastructure, connecting Real World Assets ("RWAs") such as private markets, other alternative assets and money market funds to users on public chains. Libre does this through the on-chain Libre Gateway DeFi dApp's (decentralised applications) deployed on each public chain. This enables accredited, professional and institutional investors on networks like Solana to directly access top-tier funds on-chain in a fully compliant manner as well as ancillary services for secondary trading and collateralised lending, where available. The first cross-chain transactions took place on Solana through the MVP Libre Gateway.

Now accessible to Solana's users through Libre, HL SCOPE Access Fund provides access to SCOPE, an all-weather senior private credit evergreen vehicle, which seeks to generate consistency of performance and cash yield through up and down markets. SCOPE offers investors access to a diversified, multi-manager portfolio with immediate capital deployment and the option for monthly liquidity.

Libre's CEO and founder, Dr. Avtar Sehra, highlighted "The launch of the Libre Gateway on Solana is a huge step forward to enable access to wealth and treasury management tools for users on Solana, and for Libre to take advantage of the low latency and throughput capability of Solana to launch new and innovative services."

Victor Jung,Head of Digital Assets at Hamilton Lane, said "As a leader in the tokenisation of private markets funds, we are delighted to partner with Libre,who is at the forefront of innovations in the fund distribution space, to reach a broader range of investors as they launch on Solana. This launch will expand access to the historical strong returns and performance opportunities generated within the private markets, while increasing efficiency and transparency for all investors."

Nick Ducoff, Head of Institutional Growth at the Solana Foundation: "Libre's launch on Solana democratizes access to high quality financial products with lower minimums to a global investor base.By leveraging the Solana blockchain's high performance, speed, and security, Libre enables accredited investors to access a wide range of top-tier private funds directly onchain. This development underscores the transformative benefits of blockchain technology in broadening participation in financial markets."

While the core focus of Libre is enabling access to private markets and alternative investments, such as the Hamilton Lane Scope Private Credit Fund, it also provides lowest cost access to a spectrum of well established money market funds, such as the BlackRock ICS USD Liquidity Fund, to ensure investors can park their money and have flexibility to come in and out of alternative markets when they choose. In addition, Libre also offers more crypto native funds, such as Laser Digital's new Market Neutral Fund that is already oversubscribed prior to its September launch.

Libre brings together the institutional heritage and alternative investment expertise from WebN Group, an incubation hub for fintech and Web3 innovation, and Nomura's digital assets arm, Laser Digital. Libre is also looking to enable a number of services to be made available to users on Solana through the Libre Gateway, which will be rolled out over 2024.

Other Quotes

Himanshu Panwar, CEO at WebN Group: "WebN Group is proud to back and contribute our expertise in blockchain technology and capital markets to the development of Libre. By providing a secure and efficient platform for the issuance and management of treasury management, Libre is poised to transform the traditional investment landscape."

Dr. Jez Mohideen, CEO at Laser Digital: "Laser Digital is dedicated to delivering secure and compliant digital asset products and infrastructure for professional users. We firmly believe that Libre's groundbreaking approach to tokenised funds holds the potential to greatly boost investor confidence and foster increased adoption of blockchain technology and tokenisation within the alternative investments industry and across broader capital markets."

About the Companies

Libre Capital

Libre is building the investment infrastructure to enable asset managers to seamlessly connect with distributors and enable unparalleled access to global alternatives investment funds. In addition, Libre is working on enabling access to value-add services in the alternative assets ecosystem such as collateralised lending and automated rebalancing.

Hamilton Lane

Hamilton Lane (Nasdaq: HLNE) is one of the largest private markets investment firms globally, providing innovative solutions to institutional and private wealth investors around the world. Dedicated exclusively to private markets investing for more than 30 years, the firm currently employs approximately 700 professionals operating in offices throughout North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and the Middle East. Hamilton Lane has over $920 billion in assets under management and supervision, composed of more than $124 billion in discretionary assets and approximately $796 billion in non-discretionary assets, as of March 31, 2024. Hamilton Lane specializes in building flexible investment programs that provide clients access to the full spectrum of private markets strategies, sectors and geographies. For more information, please visit our website or follow Hamilton Lane on LinkedIn.

Forward-Looking Statements

Some of the statements in this release may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "will," "expect," "believe," "estimate," "continue," "anticipate," "intend," "plan" and similar expressions are intended to identify these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements discuss management's current expectations and projections relating to our financial position, results of operations, plans, objectives, future performance and business. All forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause actual results to be materially different, including risks relating to: our ability to manage growth, fund performance, competition in our industry, changes in our regulatory environment and tax status; market conditions generally; our ability to access suitable investment opportunities for our clients; our ability to maintain our fee structure; our ability to attract and retain key employees; our ability to manage our obligations under our debt agreements; defaults by clients and third-party investors on their obligations to fund commitments; our exposure and that of our clients and investors to the credit risks of financial institutions at which we and they hold accounts; our ability to comply with investment guidelines set by our clients; our ability to successfully integrate acquired businesses with ours; our ability to manage risks associated with introducing new types of investment structures, products or services or entering into strategic partnerships; our ability to manage redemption or repurchase rights in certain of our funds; our ability to manage, identify and anticipate risks we face; our ability to manage the effects of events outside of our control; and our ability to receive distributions from Hamilton Lane Advisors, L.L.C. to fund our payment of dividends, taxes and other expenses.

The foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. For more information regarding these risks and uncertainties as well as additional risks we face, you should refer to the "Risk Factors" detailed in Part I, Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2023 and in our subsequent reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements included in this release are made only as of the date hereof. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information or future events, except as otherwise required by law.

WebN Group

WebN Group is an incubation hub for fintech and Web3 innovators. Partnering with engineers, entrepreneurs and researchers who are building next-generation, institutional businesses, WebN serves as a bridge between blockchain technology and financial institutions. The WebN team consists of experts in capital markets, technology and infrastructure.

Laser Digital

Laser Digital is a digital asset business offering services to institutional investors, including asset management, trading, and ventures. The company is backed by Nomura, a leading financial services group. Laser Digital's goal is to bring confidence to the digital asset market by providing its clients with access to innovative and reliable products and services.

Media Contacts

Immy Ransom