Solarisbank is Exploring All Options From Fundraising to a Sale to a PE Fund
According to a recent German press report, Solaris Bank is currently in fundraising mode. The fundraising is no surprise since this was expected and widely known after they raised 190 m € in July 2021, valuing the bank at 1.4 bn Euros. What is new is the information that Solaris also considers selling a “large stake”, maybe even the whole company to a private equity fund.
They are driven to this decision by the current market conditions for privately held tech companies. The money raised in their funding in July 2021 was mostly used to buy their UK competitor Contis. The fundraising environment Solaris is facing is increasingly challenging. The end of the SPAC boom took out another option to list on public markets the fast way. So they are left with a lofty valuation they would need to defend in raising more money with VCs and a SPAC deal is not realistic in the current state of public markets. So they are turning to one of the few options left, Private Equity.
Ramin Niroumand (chairman of the supervisory board and with FinLeap a large shareholder) has been approached by multiple PE funds.
CVC reportedly already lost interest, but Advent is still interested. Advent has also announced in May that they have raised a 25 bn US$ fund. Advent is also with Aareal already the owner of a bank in Germany.
The real incentives for a private equity fund to buy a cash-burning tech company are not yet clear, but Solaris is reportedly interested if the price is right.
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