ICE-Backed Bakkt to Buy Apex Crypto for Up to $200 Million

Bakkt Holdings Inc., a digital-asset platform majority owned by Intercontinental Exchange Inc., agreed to buy Apex Crypto LLC for as much as $200 million to expand its product offering.

Bakkt will pay $55 million in cash to acquire the unit owned by Apex Fintech Solutions Inc., according to a statement from the buyer. Bakkt has also offered up to $45 million of its own stock, contingent on Apex Crypto hitting certain targets.

An additional $100 million of Bakkt stock and so-called “seller notes” may be paid if Apex Crypto meets certain goals through 2025. The deal is expected to be completed in the first half of 2023. Bakkt and Apex Fintech Solutions will sign an agreement to continue to collaborate commercially.

Bakkt joins a flurry of crypto industry consolidation following this year’s rout in digital assets. Its own stock has tumbled more than 75% this year.

Through the announced acquisition, it is seeking to expand work with financial technology firms, with Apex Crypto currently servicing dozens of clients in that space to help facilitate crypto trading, clearing and custody. The Apex unit was started in 2019, one year after the formation of Bakkt within ICE.

While Bakkt was a digital asset darling for investors as it went public through a blank-check company deal last year, the plunge in its stock has spurred more than $1 billion worth of estimated impairment losses. ICE has written its holding down to $400 million from $1.5 billion at the end of June.