One DAT to Rule Them All: Forward Industries Pursues Solmate Acquisition

Amidst languishing $SOL prices and compressing mNAVs, the apex predator of Solana’s DAT race has begun circling the smaller fish.

Forward Industries, the world’s largest publicly traded Solana treasury company, is actively seeking to acquire Solmate, a rival DAT with a reported 1.2M $SOL on its books, in an all-stock deal.

Following Solmate’s initial rejection of the private deal, Forward Industries is pleading its case directly to $SLMT shareholders.

What are the terms of the proposed acquisition, and what does it signal for the markets' remaining beleaguered $SOL DATs?

Solmate Rejects Acquisition Offer

On June 9, Forward Industries published a notice outlining its intention to acquire Brera Holdings PLC, a public company more commonly known as Solmate.

Submitted privately on June 1, Forward Industries’ proposed acquisition deal promises that Solmate shareholders would receive 1.54 newly issued $FWDI shares for each SLMT share, valuing the company at $7.19 per share. That represents a premium of roughly 30.7% to Solmate's ten-day volume-weighted average price of $5.50.

Solmate's board turned the offer down on June 6, stating it "does not consider the Proposal to be in the best interest of the Company." Wasting no time in applying pressure, Forward Industries fired back in Monday's announcement, expressing disappointment that Solmate refused to even engage in dialogue.

Appealing directly to $SLMT shareholders, the Galaxy Digital and Jump Crypto-backed treasury giant argues that its scale, capital structure, and market access position it to unlock the value trapped inside $SLMT more effectively than Solmate could ever manage on its own.

The prospect of an acquisition at a 30.7% premium is likely appealing for Solmate shareholders’ given $SLMT’s performance in recent months. That being said, $FWDI’s price action is hardly encouraging, given both firm’s underlying exposure to $SOL.

Because Solmate's parent entity, Brera Holdings, is incorporated in Ireland, the pursuit now falls under the Irish Takeover Rules. Forward has until July 21 to either announce a firm offer or formally walk away.

The Competitive Landscape

Forward held 7,044,079 $SOL as of March 31, the largest corporate Solana treasury on record, with nearly all of it staked to the company's in-house validator. 

Solmate, by contrast, reported 1,235,834 $SOL as of February 28, alongside roughly $7.1M in crypto-related securities and $9.1M in cash. The UAE-focused firm has been building staking, validation, and RPC infrastructure targeting institutional adoption in the Middle East, backed by prominent institutional players like Ark Invest and RockawayX.

The proposed acquisition comes at a difficult time of elevated tensions between Solmate and one of its main backers, RockawayX. 

Earlier this year, RCBH Ltd, a group affiliated with RockawayX CEO and former Solmate board member Viktor Fischer, filed a requisition notice seeking to remove and replace the entire Brera Holdings board. 

Shareholders have refused the filing, arguing that the existing board would protect the firm against "opportunistic investors seeking to take control of the Company."

The campaign followed Solmate's refusal to acquire RockawayX itself, a deal the board says it abandoned after diligence uncovered material inconsistencies in RockawayX's financial representations.

One DAT to Rule Them All?

With $SOL continuing to flounder at its lowest price since December 2023, mergers and acquisitions among DATs may become more common. Forward Industries Chairman Kyle Samani has previously hinted that the acquisition of smaller companies could be a powerful growth lever for the firm.

So far, Solmate has been resolute in its refusal of the acquisition. However, Forward Industries’ public offering could also be seen as an invitation to other Solana-based DATs who have fallen on hard times. 

In the months and years to come, it is possible that capital and network stake steadily consolidate under a select few DATs, concentrating network stake and influence in the hands of centralized operators.

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