MariaDB is the target of another takeover offer as the company that develops the eponymous open source relational database management system (RDBMS) has confirmed it has received a preliminary offer from California-based K1 Investment Management It becomes.
K1 quietly revealed on Friday that it had submitted a so-called “unsolicited, non-binding, indicative proposal” to MariaDB. As the name suggests, this is a non-binding exploratory proposal that is subject to change depending on the progress of future negotiations. several weeks. The offer includes buying all of MariaDB's stock for $0.55 per share, which is approximately $37 million based on the company's February 5 closing valuation. What form it will take has not yet been decided.
The news comes amid significant change and disruption at the company, which has a new CEO on board and a significant downsizing effort to offload both its database-as-a-service and geospatial businesses. It was done.
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MariaDB was founded 15 years ago after MySQL's project creators became concerned about its independence following a series of multibillion-dollar acquisitions in 2009 that led to Oracle effectively owning MySQL. appeared as a fork of MySQL. To this day, MariaDB is considered “. It is a “drop-in” replacement for users who want a fully open source MySQL replacement, and is used by leading companies to store and manipulate data across their applications.
The for-profit entity behind MariaDB has raised approximately $230 million in venture funding over the years to develop premium features and services in addition to its core project, eventually launching a special acquisition purpose company (SPAC). The company went public in December 2022. Like most SPAC-based IPOs, MariaDB's initial public offering was far from a resounding success, falling below its $445 million opening day market cap in late 2022 (which itself was a private company value of $672 million at the time). Series D rounds), which had been depreciating significantly relative to the US dollar, have turned into a permanent sell-off, with round numbers hovering just above $10 million since the beginning of the year.
At the heart of all this is a series of below-average earnings reports, with the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) forcing MariaDB in September to comply with listing rules stipulating a company's average global market capitalization. I warned you that you haven't. He will never make less than $50 million in any consecutive 30-day trading period of his.
In the months that followed, MariaDB received its first “unsolicited non-binding indicative offer.” This time, he was tentatively offered $0.56 per share in cash by existing investor Runa Capital. Three weeks later, Runa said it did not intend to acquire MariaDB after all, and that an affiliated company called RP Ventures would instead provide a $26.5 million loan.
Fast forward to early February of this year, and MariaDB announced a temporary forbearance agreement with its creditors. This means refraining from exercising the remedies set out in the loan agreement while alternative financing solutions are explored. This news caused MariaDB's stock price to more than double in just a few days. As such, K1 is bidding relative to his MariaDB's closing price before the deferment agreement was announced.
In fact, K1 says it commands a 189% premium to MariaDB's February 5th closing price ($0.19, equivalent to a market cap of approximately $12.9 million). There is no guarantee that K1 will make a formal bid for MariaDB, but unlike Runa Capital, which is more of a traditional VC, K1 has a track record of late-stage investments throughout his 12-year history, and private equity is in a position close to. region. And perhaps more importantly, the company already has several acquisitions to its name, including the acquisition of Australia's ELMO Software in 2022 for $319 million; It was made private during the acquisition process.
So in many ways, K1 is probably a better successor to MariaDB than Runa, even if you ultimately decide against it.
K1 provides that MariaDB formally expresses its offer by March 29, 2024 in accordance with the applicable Irish Takeover Regulations, with one location in Dublin, Ireland and the other in Dublin, Ireland. , you will have to choose between canceling your plan completely. (located in Redwood City, California).
Also note that given the plight of commercial MariaDB organizations, the affiliated MariaDB Foundation, which is responsible for governance of the open source MariaDB project, recently signed a major sponsorship deal with Amazon Web Services (AWS). worth it. Towards ensuring the realization of his community-driven MariaDB.