Forward pursues Solana DAT acquisitions with stock offers

Forward Industries on Monday submitted non-binding, all-stock proposals to acquire two smaller Solana digital asset treasuries: Solana Company (HSDT) and SkyAI (SKYA). Solana Company’s board rejected Forward’s offer and SkyAI did not reply to the proposal.

Forward offered HSDT shareholders 0.386 newly issued Forward common shares for each HSDT share, valuing the exchange at about $1.63 per HSDT share, roughly a 10% premium to recent trading levels. The company made a separate, similar all-stock proposal to SkyAI that represented about a 20% premium to SKYA’s recent price. Both proposals are non-binding. Forward previously made an offer for Solmate that was declined.

Forward holds more than 7 million SOL tokens, a position larger than its next three competitors combined. The company framed the offers as part of a consolidation strategy for the Solana DAT sector and said scale could improve liquidity and operating efficiency. Forward is scheduled to be added to the Russell 2000 and Russell 3000 indexes at month-end, a change the company expects will increase passive-buying flow into its shares.

The company has generated revenue from its SOL holdings through staking and DeFi deployments and has borrowed against liquid-staked SOL under an arrangement with Galaxy. Forward described using freed-up cash to invest in non-correlated, higher-yield opportunities such as a stake in the OnRe reinsurance platform, and said those resources could support acquisitions on terms attractive to target shareholders.

Several Solana-backed treasuries have traded below their net asset values in recent months. Active SOL DATs collectively hold more than 16 million SOL, and many of those tokens were acquired when SOL traded above $200. Solana has since traded well below that level; the current price is near $76. NAV discounts, tight liquidity and fixed operating costs have left some treasuries weighing strategic options including liquidation. Company executives noted that a winding down of a DAT could lead to cash-only distributions rather than returning contributed tokens to stakeholders.

Ryan Navi, Forward’s chief investment officer, described market conditions as creating opportunities for offensive acquisition strategies while competitors defend existing positions. He also pointed to higher fixed costs and negative cash flows at smaller treasuries as pressures that can erode shareholder value. Navi said SkyAI’s shift toward an AI focus has widened its discount to treasury value and that SKYA’s shares have underperformed both SOL and other treasury peers since that pivot.

Shares of HSDT and SKYA rose on the day the proposals became public, and Forward’s stock climbed more than 10% as investors priced in potential consolidation. Forward said it will continue to approach smaller SOL treasuries and characterized its offers as intended to benefit shareholders of target companies.