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MariaDBis the subject of another potential putsch bidding , as the company behind the eponymic open origin relational database management organization ( RDBMS)confirmedit had received a provisional offer from California - basedK1 Investment Management .
K1 quietlyrevealedon Friday that it had tabled what is known as an “ unasked non - binding suggestive proposal ” for MariaDB , which — as its name advise — is a non - binding explorative offer that may change calculate on how negotiation progression in the coming weeks . This proposal let in grease one’s palms all MariaDB stock at a price of $ 0.55 per part , which would amount close to to $ 37 million based on the fellowship ’s February 5 closing evaluation , though it has yet to ascertain what mannequin this fling will take .
The news comes amid major change and excitement at the company , which has seena new CEO enterthe fray and a respectable downsizing endeavor as it offload both itsdatabase - as - a - serviceandgeospatial concern .
Forked off
MariaDBemergedas a fork of MySQL 15 yr ago , after MySQL ’s project creators became concerned about its independence in the wakeof a seriesof billion - buck acquisitionsthat led Oracle to effectivelyown MySQL in 2009 . MariaDB was weigh a “ drop - in ” replacement for those seeking a in full open source MySQL option and has been used by expectant - name companies for stack away and manipulating data across their applications .
The commercial entity behind MariaDB recruit roughly $ 230 million in venture funding through the years to develop premium features and services on top of the core project , eventuallygoing publicin December 2022 via a especial purpose acquisition companionship ( SPAC ) . As with just aboutmost SPAC - establish IPO , MariaDB ’s flotation has been far from a resonating success , falling from an opening Clarence Day market cap of$445 millionin late 2022 ( which itself was down substantially on its previousprivate enterprise value of $ 672 million at its Series D rhythm ) into a recurrent nose dive that has seen it hover at just over the $ 10 million mark since the turn of the year .
At the heart of all this has been astring of subpar earning report , with the New York Stock Exchange ( NYSE)warning MariaDB in Septemberthat it was n’t in conformity with listing rules that stipulate a company ’s middling global market capitalisation ca n’t fall below $ 50 million over a consecutive 30 - twenty-four hours trading flow .
In the months that followed , MariaDBreceived its first“unsolicited non - binding indicative proposal , ” this sentence from existing investor Runa Capital , which tentatively offered $ 0.56 per share in cash . Three weeks later , Runastated that it wouldn’tbe acquiring MariaDB after all , but instead an associate company called RP Ventureswould beproviding a $ 26.5 million loan .
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tight - forward to other February this yr , and MariaDB announced a impermanent forbearance agreement with its creditor , meaning that they would forbear from exercise any cure as congeal out in the loanword agreement while an alternative financing solution was sought . This newsled MariaDB ’s stock to more than doublein a couple of days , which is why K1 is making its bid relative to MariaDB ’s ending Mary Leontyne Price before any forbearance agreement was announce .
Indeed , K1 says it ’s offering a 189 % premium on MariaDB ’s February 5 closing price , which was $ 0.19 and correspond to a market capital of around $ 12.9 million . There is no guarantee that K1 will place a formal play for MariaDB , but unlike Runa Capital , which is more of a traditional VC , K1 has atrack record of tardy - stage investmentsover its 12 - yr account that position it nigher to the secret equity realm . And perhaps more significantly , it already has a handful of acquisition to its name , including the$319 million purchaseof Australia ’s ELMO Software in 2022 , which it also took private in the acquisition physical process .
So in many shipway , K1 is perhaps good suitable to take over MariaDB than Runa was , even if it ultimately determine against it .
K1 has until March 29 , 2024 , either to formalise its offering or to trench the plan on the whole , as per IrishTakeover Rules , which MariaDB is subject to owing to the location of one of its headquarters ( it has one in Dublin , Ireland , and another in Redwood City , California ) .
