More than 100 Firms Have Shown Interest In Acquiring FTX’s Businesses Including LedgerX

As per the new legal filing with the bankruptcy proceedings of troubled crypto exchange FTX, more than 177 entities have shown interest in acquiring different business units of FTX.

In the bankruptcy process, lawyers representing FTX debtors have prioritized selling four businesses of FTX including Embed, LedgerX, FTX Japan and FTX Europe. On Sunday, January 8, Perella Weinberg Partners (PWP), FTX's proposed investment banker, filed with the bankruptcy code adding "approximately 117 parties, including various strategic counterparties globally, have expressed interest to the debtors in a potential purchase of one or more of the businesses.”

However, none of the 117 entities have resulted in a firm offer to date. More than 59 prospective buyers have entered into a confidentiality agreement. Nearly 56 parties have shown interest in LedgeX, 50 parties have shown interest in Embed, 41 have shown interest in FTX Japan, and 40 parties have shown interest in FTX Europe.

In the filing on Sunday, attorney Kevin Cofsky said that all four entities are relatively independent from FTX and that their value could decrease during the bankruptcy case if not sold earlier. Cocky is a partner at Perella Weinberg Partner.

Although lawyers representing FTX debtors are looking to sell these four businesses Andrew Vara, the US bankruptcy trustee in FTX’s case, raised an objection to it stating that the bankrupt crypto exchange FTX provided “very little information” on what is being sold.

Vara said that FTX has failed to outline their financial affairs including liabilities and assets for each of these individual entities. He also blamed FTX for looking to delay this documentation until after the sale hearings. In the filing last Sunday, Vara noted: “Without these filings, there is no information regarding the nature or value assets of the Debtors whose businesses the Debtors seek to sell”.

He also called for an independent investigation into each of these four businesses. In the filing, Vara noted: “The sale of potentially valuable causes of action against the Debtors’ directors, officers and employees, or any other person or entity, should not be permitted when there has been serious allegations of wrongdoing, and no investigation yet into the scope of such wrongdoing, or the persons and entities that may have been involved”.

In another development, the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) seized $450 million worth of Robinhood shares belonging to Sam Bankman-Fried. The DOJ said that the Robinhood stock "constitute property involved in violations” such as wire fraud and money laundering.