Shares of Basel Medical Group are down around 15% after the healthcare company announced plans to buy $1 billion in Bitcoin for its corporate treasury.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On May 16, Singapore-based Basel said<\/a> it was \u201cin advanced discussions with a consortium of institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals [\u2026] to acquire a US$1 billion BTC through an innovative share-swap arrangement.<\/p>\n The company said the benefits of its planned purchase include creating \u201cone of the strongest balance sheets among Asia-focused healthcare providers\u201d and providing \u201cunmatched financial flexibility for mergers and acquisitions.\u201d<\/p>\n It also said the Bitcoin (BTC<\/a>) treasury would help Basel \u201c[e]stablish \u201ca diversified asset base to weather market volatility.\u201d<\/p>\n But the company\u2019s shareholders weren\u2019t sold. Basel\u2019s stock, BMGL, has dropped around 15% on the announcement, according to data<\/a> from Google Finance.<\/p>\n Basel Medical\u2019s shares are down 15% intraday on May 16. Source: <\/em>Google Finance<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Related: <\/strong><\/em>Strive to become Bitcoin treasury company<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n In April, Basel announced<\/a> that it had acquired a peer healthcare provider, Bethesda Medical, for an undisclosed sum.<\/p>\n The deal marked \u201cthe beginning of Basel Medical Group\u2019s expansion strategy in Singapore and the broader Southeast Asian healthcare market.\u201d<\/p>\n Basel\u2019s management team expects that accumulating Bitcoin will aid in these plans. \u201cOur expanded balance sheet will allow us to move quickly on strategic opportunities as we build a premier healthcare platform across high-growth Asian markets,\u201d Darren Chhoa, Basel\u2019s CEO, said in a statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bitcoin treasury metrics. Source: <\/em>Bitcointreasuries.net<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n This isn\u2019t the first time a company\u2019s shareholders have punished it for announcing plans to build a Bitcoin treasury.\u00a0<\/p>\n GameStop shed nearly $3 billion in market capitalization during a single trading day in March as investors questioned the videogame retailer\u2019s plans<\/a> to stockpile Bitcoin.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are question marks with GameStop’s model. If bitcoin is going to be the pivot, where does that leave everything else?\u201d Bret Kenwell, US investment analyst at eToro, told<\/a> Reuters in March.\u00a0<\/p>\n Corporate treasuries collectively hold roughly $80 billion worth of Bitcoin as of May 16,\u00a0according\u00a0<\/a>to data from BitcoinTreasuries.NET.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bitcoin can \u201cpotentially be a valuable hedge against growing fiscal deficits, currency debasement, and geopolitical risks\u201d for corporations, asset manager Fidelity Digital Assets\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0in a 2024 report.<\/p>\nFueling acquisitions<\/h2>\n
Corporate Bitcoin treasuries<\/h2>\n