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A Q&A with EquitiesFirst Founder Alexander Christy Jr.

How 24 years of trust has positioned EquitiesFirst to serve its clients

EquitiesFirst recorded its strongest ever performance in 2025. How has your momentum continued into 2026?

When I founded EquitiesFirst 24 years ago, I knew we would need to scale carefully so that growth would be sustainable. In this business, you have to earn trust over time by demonstrating that you can manage risk and meet your commitments. We’re now in a position where we have clients that have transacted with us multiple times over decades. That’s enabled us to build a reputation for always delivering on our obligations – and to provide over $7 billion of total financing through thousands of transactions.

We’ve built this business through a succession of market cycles, going back to the aftermath of the dotcom bust in 2002. EquitiesFirst has been there for clients through the bull market of the mid-2000s, the crisis of 2008, the Covid crash and – more recently – the conflict in the Persian Gulf and the boom fueled by the growth of Artificial Intelligence.

There’s no question that providing asset-backed financing can be challenging in volatile times. When Celsius Network filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection in 2022, it delayed the resolution of disputes and settlement between Celsius and EquitiesFirst. It took some time for us to work through this complex situation with the Celsius bankruptcy estate, but we were able to announce a comprehensive settlement in May 2026, including $500 million in payments to the Celsius estate and dismissal with prejudice of all litigation.

Because of our prudent approach to risk management, we’d already accounted for those payments and were well prepared. Our business is unaffected as a result. So our experience over more than two decades and our careful approach to scaling up are among the key reasons that our momentum continues to be strong in 2026.

Over the last 24 years, you’ve built EquitiesFirst into a global alternative capital provider. How did you get started?

EquitiesFirst was founded on the belief that we can help people grow their businesses affordably and easily. I have always believed that financing should be fair and accessible to those that have a genuine need for it.

The idea for the business dates back to 1998, when I was working as a commercial mortgage lender. One of my clients, Kropf Apples, which was then the tenth-largest apple grower in the US, came to me to find a solution to their capital shortage after several bad years of apple crops. Even after a couple of transactions, they were US$3 million short and had no other assets to leverage apart from shares in a publicly traded bank stock.

I did my research, and I used my networks to find a financier in New York who would provide cash against that stock. I brokered the deal, and it turned out that this transaction saved their business.

I was so proud of what I had achieved, and impressed by the simplicity of the transaction, that I went to New York myself and started EquitiesFirst in 2002.

Today we are a global alternative capital provider and have issued billions of dollars of loans over the last 24 years. All loans are closed with our own capital without leverage. We have 13 offices in 8 countries and an amazing team and loyal clients around the world.

We have achieved that by sticking to what we believe in.

Why do clients choose to raise capital from EquitiesFirst?

We are proud that we have many clients around the world who have chosen to work with us more than once.

First and foremost, our interests are always aligned with those of our clients. While the client retains their exposure to the stock they have used to borrow, including dividends, we become a shareholder for the duration of the transaction.

That means we are motivated for the shares to appreciate and for the underlying company to succeed. So we don’t short-sell and we don’t lend out the stock. We don’t engage in any activities that would negatively impact the borrower or the price of the stock. We treat the stock like it is our own.

Operating as a specialty non-bank capital provider gives us a number of advantages that have contributed to our success.

Our loans are flexible and non-recourse. We will provide capital for whatever the client needs to finance and all that the client has at risk is the stock they have borrowed against.

We are also able to offer low interest rates, which are typically 3-4%, and provide a more attractive loan-to-value ratio of the underlying assets. And our process is efficient: we can move from first contact with a client to funding in just a few days, all while performing due diligence including KYC.

At the same time, we have all the proper guardrails in place. Every transaction is executed in line with industry best practice and we work with top-tier legal and accounting partners.

We’ve had 24 years to hone our process and we execute it well.

Your clients are entrusting you with some of their most valuable assets – how do you earn their trust?

We recognize that it’s a big decision to work with us. Many of our clients are entrusting us with shares in the firms they founded, so they need to have absolute confidence in their counterparty. I am a founder myself, so I understand this.

Firstly, we are licensed and regulated in jurisdictions including Australia, Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.

Secondly, we regularly work with some of the world’s largest banks, who frequently refer clients to us. We also work with a range of top-tier law firms around the world, and we have auditors and accountants in all the jurisdictions where we operate.

Lastly, we’ve built our reputation for integrity over 24 years. We’ve entered into thousands of transactions.