Fuse, Allen & Overy, London

Allen & Overy and a startup in its Fuse tech space have advised on a landmark bond that was issued on the blockchain.

The Magic Circle firm and U.K. fintech start up Nivaura advised Santander on its issuance of a so-called 'end-to-end' blockchain bond – the first of its kind.

The $20 million bond was issued directly onto the public Ethereum blockchain last week. It is due in September 2020 and will not be subject to secondary trading.

A&O fielded a team from across its London and Madrid offices to act for the bank. London capital markets partner Daniel Fletcher and Madrid finance partner duo Salvador Ruiz Bachs and Charles Poole-Warren advised.

Santander Securities Services is acting as tokenisation agent for the bond, while the bank's corporate and institutional client global division, Santander Corporate and Investment Banking, acted as dealer for the issuance.

Santander was also advised by London based fintech startup Nivaura, which was founded in 2016 and was the first company to work from A&O's Fuse tech space.

Nivaura aims to provide a wholesale automation solution for capital markets transactions. The platform is aimed at all types of financial institutions involved in capital markets transactions: banks, infrastructure providers, clearing systems and law firms.

A&O and Santander have both co-invested in the company as part of a $20m seed-round investment, alongside The London Stock Exchange Group, Aegon and U.S. law firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe.

Fletcher said in a statement: "We have been working closely with Nivaura for a number of years to explore how best to harness existing and emerging technologies to facilitate bond issue processes for the benefit of our clients. Santander's inaugural blockchain bond is an excellent example of this work starting to come to fruition."