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The company claimed to have an enterprise value of $672m when it went public in 2022, but the new acquisition offer is only worth around $37m.
Database company MariaDB has received a potential takeover bid, but the offer appears to be far less than what MariaDB was valued at in 2022.
The offer comes from US-based investor K1 Investment Management, which submitted a possible offer to acquire MariaDB at a value of $0.55 per share, representing a 189pc premium on the company’s closing share price on 5 February 2024.
This would amount to a deal worth between roughly $37m to $38m, according to TechCrunch and MarketWatch. The deal is subject to Irish Takeover Rules, as MariaDB has one of its headquarters in Dublin.
Under these rules, K1 has until 29 March 2024 to announce a “firm intention” to make an offer to acquire MariaDB – or announce that it does not intend to make an offer. MariaDB said it is reviewing the possible offer, but both companies noted that there is no certainty that an offer will be made.
The scale of the deal is rather underwhelming compared to the growth period MariaDB saw in previous years, particularly before it went public in 2022. The database company said that transaction implied an enterprise value of approximately $672m. MariaDB said it also completed a $104m fully funded Series D round during the same period.
However, the company’s fortunes have changed dramatically since then, with its market cap being on a downward spiral and dropping to roughly $12.9m by the start of 2024. This has risen to roughly $23m in February, according to YCharts. The database company’s earnings reports have also been lackluster.
The company’s latest quarter ended 31 December 2023 saw a net loss of $8.8m, though this was an improvement compared to the $12.7m loss in the previous period.
MariaDB attributed the improvement to measures it took to reduce spending, discontinue certain products and focus on its core MariaDB Enterprise Server product. The company appointed Paul O’Brien as CEO last May and recently completed spinning off its SkySQL and geospatial business.
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