ECI And DiamondLake Announce Strategic Business Combination To Create Fully Integrated Real Asset Investment Platform
Commercial Real Estate Enterprise SteelWave LLC, In Partnership With DiamondLake And Enabled By ECI, Intends To Direct Capital Into High-Quality Real Estate And Structure Investment Vehicles For Public Market Investors
SAN FRANCISCO, April 06, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — ECI (e-Cobalt Investing LLC), a U.S.-based digital asset investment management firm that structures private strategies aimed at generating returns in the digital asset market, and DiamondLake Minerals, Inc. (OTC: DLMI), a multi-strategy operating company specializing in digital assets and SEC-registered security tokens, today announce a strategic business combination intended to create a fully integrated investment platform uniting public capital markets with a pipeline of institutional-quality real assets.
This announcement is made pursuant to a signed Memorandum of Understanding dated April 1, 2026. The parties are engaged in good-faith negotiations toward definitive agreements that will govern the formation and operation of the combined platform. The specific governance structure, equity participation, compensation arrangements, and entity formation remain subject to those definitive agreements and have not yet been finalized.
The combined platform is designed to align capital formation, asset production, and investment structuring into a single coordinated system.
DiamondLake contributes a capital markets engine, including public market access, distribution capabilities, and tokenization infrastructure. ECI serves as the connective layer, structuring and channeling capital into investment opportunities. San Francisco-headquartered SteelWave LLC, which has acquired, developed, or managed upward of $20 billion in real estate over the past 40 years, operating alongside ECI, provides the asset pipeline and execution engine, with vertically integrated capabilities spanning development, construction, architecture, leasing, entitlements, and property management.
The intended platform brings together three components into one coordinated system: access to public capital, a pipeline of institutional-quality real assets, and an integrated structuring layer.
“This is not a traditional partnership—it is the intended unification of capital and product into a single, coordinated system,” stated Mitchell DiRaimondo, CEO of ECI. “We are working toward collapsing the gap between capital formation and asset deployment.”
The platform contemplates a continuous investment cycle in which SteelWave sources and develops assets, ECI structures and integrates them into investable opportunities, and DiamondLake raises and deploys capital through public markets. As assets are stabilized and monetized, capital would be recycled and redeployed into new opportunities.
A key differentiator of the intended platform is its direct access to SteelWave’s proprietary real estate pipeline. Unlike capital platforms reliant on third-party deal sourcing, this system is designed to benefit from a controlled, repeatable pipeline for real estate assets. SteelWave currently supports approximately $2 billion in annual core real estate activity. If the parties successfully access public capital markets, the platform’s leadership believes there is a pathway to scaling that activity to $4–$8 billion annually, though there can be no assurance that such scaling will be achieved.
DiamondLake’s tokenization infrastructure is intended to introduce flexibility and liquidity to real asset investing by enabling broader investor participation and more efficient capital recycling. ECI also expands the platform’s opportunity set beyond real estate, incorporating non-real estate investments and intellectual property, and brings a high-net-worth investor network as an additional distribution channel.
The business combination also contemplates full lifecycle integration of real estate value creation. Historically, SteelWave developed and sold stabilized assets to third-party institutional buyers. Under the intended new structure, those assets could additionally be retained within the platform, with DiamondLake and ECI serving as the long-term capital partner, internalizing value and strengthening alignment between capital and operations.
Near-Term Goals Subject To Definitive Agreements And Market Conditions
The parties share an aspirational near-term goal of building a gross asset portfolio exceeding $5 billion over the next 36 months. This objective is contingent on the successful execution of definitive agreements, continued expansion of public capital access, successful tokenization channel development, and favorable market conditions. These are aspirational goals only and do not constitute representations, warranties, or commitments by any party.
As tokenization and public-private convergence reshape global capital markets, the quality and credibility of underlying assets will become increasingly critical. By integrating asset production, structuring, and capital distribution from inception, the ECI–DiamondLake platform intends to be well-positioned in this evolving landscape.
“This combination represents more than scale—it represents alignment,” DiamondLake CEO Brian J. Esposito added. “We are building a platform where capital, product, and structure are intended to be unified from day one, designed not only for today’s market but for where it is going.”
About ECI
ECI (e-Cobalt Investing LLC) operates as the strategic connective layer linking DiamondLake and SteelWave, structuring investment vehicles for public market distribution and enabling the flow of capital into real assets. ECI provides access to non-real estate intellectual property and diversified investments and activates a high-net-worth investor network as a distribution channel and token-based capital ecosystem. As a digital asset manager, ECI specializes in quantitative trading strategies in the cryptocurrency landscape.
About DiamondLake
Founded in Utah in 1954, DiamondLake Minerals, Inc. (OTC: DLMI) is a multi-strategy operating company that specializes in the development and support of digital assets and SEC-registered security tokens. Our goal is to responsibly innovate and develop valuable traditional businesses and successfully combine them with the future of money and digital assets. Our mission is to bring back to the public markets timeless business principles that are focused on healthy sustainable growth and strong earnings that generate yields combined in a modern digital world creating value for our stakeholders. DLMI is positioning itself as an industry-agnostic leader in the digital asset and security token space.
Safe Harbor Statement
This release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the proposed business combination, the parties’ intentions, goals, strategies, plans, and expected outcomes. Forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as “anticipate,” “intend,” “plan,” “goal,” “seek,” “believe,” “project,” “estimate,” “expect,” “strategy,” “future,” “likely,” “may,” “should,” “would,” “could,” “will,” “intend,” and similar expressions.
IMPORTANT NOTES: (1) The business combination described herein is subject to the negotiation and execution of definitive agreements, which have not yet been finalized. No assurance can be given that definitive agreements will be reached or that the transaction will be consummated. (2) Financial projections and portfolio targets described herein are aspirational goals only and are not representations or guarantees of future results. Actual results may differ materially. (3) All public market activities, capital raises, and tokenization activities remain subject to applicable securities laws and regulatory requirements.
Forward-looking statements are subject to inherent risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause actual results and financial condition to differ materially from those expressed or implied, including economic conditions, changes in laws or regulations, demand for DLMI’s products and services, the effects of competition, the parties’ ability to reach definitive agreements, regulatory approvals, and other factors. DiamondLake Minerals, Inc. assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release.
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