Art-focused multilateral trading facility (MTF) ARTEX Global Markets has issued B-shares totalling USD 55 million in a Francis Bacon painting, with Euroclear serving as issuer CSD.
Shares in the piece, ‘Three Studies for a Portrait of George Dyer’ (1963), are available from approximately €100 and are actively traded on the ARTEX trading facility.
ARTEX aims to enhance accessibility to the fine art market and allow the public to invest in cultural assets in a new way. Pieces listed on the MTF will be publicly displayed.
This latest news marks the first time that an artwork has been taken public, and is the first issuance of equity shares that has been issued directly in Euroclear Bank.
Yassir Benjelloun-Touimi, co-founder and CEO of ARTEX, commented: “The first listing of a work of art in the world is another major step forward in our objective of democratising investment in art. It is now possible to invest securely and transparently in one of the major works in the history of modern art. Future listings will continue and we will be announcing them in the second half of the year.”
Philippe Laurensy, managing director and head of product, strategy and innovation at Euroclear, added: “Euroclear is delighted to have been able to support this innovative development in the world of art investment. Not only does this transaction serve as a catalyst to open up the world of art investment to the public, it also further strengthens the value of Euroclear as a key financial market infrastructure.
“By issuing its first international share offering directly in Euroclear Bank, Euroclear stresses its ambition to expand available asset classes in an efficient way to continue to connect issuers and investors and facilitate a more attractive and integrated capital market in Europe.”
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