Benzinga | Feb 11, 2021 11:21AM EST

Mogo Acquires 20% Stake In Coinsquare For $56.4M

* Mogo Inc. (NASDAQ: MOGO) inked an agreement to acquire a 19.99% stake in Canada's digital asset trading platform Coinsquare Ltd for $56.4 million.

* The agreement includes an additional acquisition right of a 20% stake in Coinsquare through purchases of shares from current shareholders for a consideration based on pre-money valuation ranging between $250 million and $350 million.

* The investment builds on a multi-year relationship between the two companies as Coinsquare is the trading platform for Mogo's bitcoin trading service MogoCrypto.

* Mogo will appoint one nominee to Coinsquare's board, which may increase to two nominees. Coinsquare will be allowed to appoint one nominee to the Mogo's board.

* The agreement is expected to close by the first quarter of 2021.

* Mogo recently posted a robust bitcoin transaction volume in January. The company had declared preliminary corporate investment plans of up to $1.5 million in bitcoin with further investment plans in 2021 upon the monetization of its $17 million investment portfolio.

* Price action: MOGO shares are up 5.2% at $9.54 on the last check Thursday.