Forward Industries, a public company with a massive bet on Solana, saw its all-stock takeover offers to three rival firms — Solana Company (HSDT), Brera Holdings (SLMT), and SkyAI (SKYA) — either rejected or ignored by mid-June. The proposals, aimed at creating a dominant Solana-exposed entity, were all structured as equity swaps that would have handed target shareholders a leveraged proxy on Forward's deeply underwater SOL position.
The Rejected Offers
Forward pitched a 0.386 FWDI share per HSDT share, worth about $1.63 at the time, a 10% premium. Brera Holdings was offered 1.54 FWDI shares per share, roughly $7.19, a 30.7% premium to its 10-day volume-weighted average price. SkyAI got a bid of 0.367 FWDI shares per share, about $1.55, a 20% premium to its prior close of $1.29.
None of the deals stuck. Brera's board formally rejected the offer on June 6. Solana Company's board declined around June 12. SkyAI never responded by the June 12 expiration date.
The SOL Bet Behind the Bids
Forward holds nearly 7 million SOL tokens, bought for roughly $1.6 billion with an average entry of about $232 per token. At current prices near $75, that stake carries more than $1 billion in unrealized losses. The company's all-stock structure meant target shareholders would get FWDI equity — essentially a leveraged play on a SOL position that's deeply underwater.
Forward also has a $4 billion at-the-market offering program to keep buying SOL directly. But that mechanism doesn't address the governance friction that led the targets to walk away.
Why the Targets Said No
Forward's pitch was to create a single dominant public company that would act as a quasi-ETF proxy for institutional investors seeking Solana exposure. The Solana DAT micro-sector holds about 16.2 million SOL across roughly six public companies. Forward's 7 million SOL is well ahead of rivals like Upexi (about 2.4 million) and HSDT and SKYA treasuries in the 2.0–2.3 million SOL range.
But the three targets decided they're worth more on their own. The all-stock bid structure — swapping their equity for shares in a company with a massive unrealized loss on its core asset — likely didn't help. For now, independence wins out.
A Rally That Cut Both Ways
A broad market rally driven by a U.S.-Iran peace deal lifted SOL nearly 11% to about $75. All four stocks rose in sympathy: FWDI +14% to $4.89, SKYA +14%, HSDT +12%, and SLMT +7% to $4.71. The symmetrical price move across all four tickers partly undermines Forward's consolidation rationale — if everyone rises together, the case for a single merged entity gets weaker.
The calculus could shift if SOL rallies substantially from current levels. But for now, Forward is left holding 7 million tokens, no new M&A growth, and a set of rivals that don't see the value in joining forces.
