Colorful housing establishment in Reykjavik, Iceland. Freepik
Alliance Investments has partnered up with the Tezos Foundation and security token platform tZERO to put £500 million ($643 million) in planned real estate development on the blockchain, the company announced on 30 October.
According to the press release, this will be the first U.K. real estate-backed security token offering (STO), and one of only a few around the world.
Alliance Investments, which has a rich history in the property development sector, plans to first issue security tokens that represent £20 million in equity of a waterfront development, currently under construction, in the first quarter of 2020.
Alliance Investments CIO, Rani Zahr, said in a statement:
“Raising funds through an STO is more efficient, cost-effective, autonomous and democratic than traditional financing. We believe that we are at the forefront of a technological change that can disrupt the current funding paradigm and we are delighted to partner with two global players that are leading blockchain innovation, tZERO and The Tezos Foundation, for our first STO.”
The company plans to digitize the first real estate using tZERO’s tokenization technology and financial consultant Megalodon’s advisory service, with the Tezos protocol serving as the base infrastructure to “deploy, transfer and store the digital assets and smart contracts”.
Investors will be provided with liquidity through the PRO Securities alternative trading system, which is a subsidiary of tZERO that is registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Tezos Foundation Board Member Hubertus Thonhauser stated:
“We are impressed by Alliance Investments’ entrepreneurial vision to redefine real estate ownership and tZERO’s mission to make liquid assets available to a broad audience. It is our mandate to power real world use cases of blockchain adoption with the most advanced open source technology.”
The company plans to have other real estate developments tokenized in the course of several years. They will not only include residential and student accommodation, but commercial and hospitality properties as well.