Hatten Land forms JV with Hydra X; to raise S$1.2m via private placement
HATTEN Land PH0 on Monday (Nov 1) announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Hatten Technology, has entered into a joint venture (JV) agreement with Singapore fintech company, Hydra X, to jointly develop and operate cryptocurrency exchanges which will focus on the listing and trading of newly-minted bitcoins.
In a press statement, Hatten Land said that under the JV agreement, the group will hold a 60 per cent equity stake, while the remaining 40 per will be held by Hydra X.
"As partial consideration for the development costs for the crypto exchanges, Hydra X will be issued new ordinary shares of Hatten Land and Hydra will become a shareholder of the company," Hatten Land noted.
Hatten Land highlighted that newly-minted bitcoins which the new exchanges will focus on, have no transaction history and are considered 'pristine', thus commanding a higher value.
The new exchanges will also focus on creating 'green bitcoins' which are mined with renewable energy sources.
In addition to operating the exchanges, the JV will also generate revenue by providing custody services for the cryptocurrencies and tokens that are being traded.
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The JV is the latest initiative undertaken by Hatten Land to re-purpose its malls in Melaka and align its business model with the growth trends of the digital economy. The group had earlier in October announced plans to create a 'metaverse' digital twin of Melaka and to develop a dedicated token system, and create digital assets, including non fungible tokens (NFTs).
Hatten Land is also working with partners to install solar panels on rooftops of its malls and potentially build large-scale solar photovoltaic facilities of 100 megawatts-peak. These panels will enable environmentally-friendly cryptocurrency mining which will commence with 3,000 mining rigs to be operated with two different partners.
The digital assets derived from its new initiatives may also be listed or traded on the crypto exchanges, said Hatten Land.
Separately, Hatten Land has also proposed to issue 20 million new ordinary shares for an aggregate consideration of S$1.2 million or S$0.06 per share to Golden Summit International. Net proceeds are S$1.183 million, and 70 per cent of this will be used to fund new business initiatives of the group. The rest will be used for working capital.
The placement price of S$0.06 represents a discount of about 2.12 per cent to the volume-weighted average price of S$0.0613, based on trades done on the shares on Singapore Exhange from Oct 27, 2021 up to the trading halt on Oct 28, 2021. The placement agreement was signed on Oct 28.
Executive chairman and managing director of Hatten Land, Colin Tan said: "While cryptocurrencies are becoming mainstream, we foresee a growing demand for 'virgin' and 'green' bitcoins amid the rising environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) trend and we look forward to harness the opportunities in this area."
Chief executive officer of Hydra X, Daryl Low, noted: "This initiative is a step towards fulfilling Hydra X's aim to help catalyse institutional adoption of digital assets. We look forward to a fruitful partnership with Hatten Land to enable global trading in the digital capital market space while playing a part in promoting environmental sustainability by addressing concerns of socially conscious investors."
A trading halt for Hatten Land was called on Oct 28 afternoon, and shares ended at S$0.059. Trading resumes today.
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