Strategy’s Bitcoin Gambit Takes New Form With ‘Perpetual’ Stock #CriptoNews

(Bloomberg) — Michael Saylor’s Strategy is pulling just about every lever it can to pool cash to build on its mammoth Bitcoin stockpile, planning to sell another stock-like product with a twist: It can’t be converted into shares and is intended to trade forever.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The so-called perpetual strife preferred stock is being pitched to investors with an eye-catching 10% dividend, a higher coupon than a separate preferred offering the former MicroStrategy Inc. completed in January. The structure is notable because unlike the previous deal, there’s no conversion price. It’s another unique step for the company which has been pumping out different instruments and selling shares to raise money and in turn to buy more Bitcoin.

The deal, expected to price later this week, is being marketed by debt bankers at Morgan Stanley, Barclays Plc, Citigroup Inc., and Moelis & Co. That’s a shift from the more vanilla convertible bonds — the Tysons Corner, Virginia-based company has raised more than $10 billion in the past year — and January’s preferred deal which were completed by the banks’ equity capital markets desks.

That pivot showcases a shift in the target audience, after mostly hedge funds piled into the convertible debt to profit from the stock’s volatility. The DCM desks will target investors who are more likely to trade debt instruments, with bankers and investors expecting Strategy to cater to retail investors.

That was the case with its preferred units — listed under ticker STRK — with the company’s bankers able to pump out new derivatives via an at-the-market program to raise much-needed cash. The company raised $10.7 million through such sales last week to buy about 130 Bitcoin, it said on Monday.

Strategy has laid out plans to raise $42 billion over the next few years by selling securities to buy Bitcoin — with an increasing focus on its ability to sell fixed-income securities after flooding the market with common shares.

The enterprise software company turned leveraged Bitcoin proxy has piled up Bitcoin since late October with its current holdings worth about $42 billion.

While selling notes in dribs and drabs will help the company advance its goal of acquiring as much Bitcoin as it can, the pace of such deals will be limited unless the cryptocurrency and Strategy shares rally or it is able to do another chunky deal.