A deal premium, meaning the extra amount a buyer offers above a stock's market price to get shareholders to approve a sale, just got larger. Forward Industries (NASDAQ: FWDI) raised its takeover offer for SkyAI (NASDAQ: SKYA) on Tuesday, proposing terms that would value each SkyAI share at roughly $2.13, a 50% premium to SkyAI's $1.42 close on Monday.
Under the revised terms, SkyAI shareholders would receive the value of 0.306 Forward shares per share they own, with the option to take cash, Forward stock, or a mix of both. Forward calculated the per-share value using its own $6.95 closing price from Monday. The offer is non-binding, and it remains subject to regulatory approvals and a shareholder vote. Forward has asked SkyAI's board to respond by September 25.
The offer SkyAI already rejected
SkyAI publicly turned down Forward's first proposal the day before the sweetened offer arrived. The company's independent Special Committee said unanimously that the earlier all-stock offer was not in shareholders' best interests.
SkyAI also made a case for its standalone strategy. The company holds Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) as its primary treasury asset, with more than two million SOL on hand and no outstanding debt. Through June 30, it generated more than $12 million in staking revenue. Staking, in plain terms, is locking up cryptocurrency to help validate the network in exchange for a yield. SkyAI said its validator returned a 6.01% annualized gross yield over the 10 epochs ending September 8, above the 5.57% stake-weighted average across Solana validators.
Ryan Navi, Forward's chief investment officer, said the revised offer reflects the company's belief in the value the combination could create.
Three days before the annual meeting
Forward filed its revised bid three days before SkyAI's September 18 annual meeting, where shareholders are set to vote on five director nominees and the company's 2026 equity incentive plan. Forward has already urged investors to withhold votes from SkyAI's entire board and to reject the equity plan.
Both stocks fell on Tuesday. Forward shares were trading at $6.63, down 4.6% on the day. SkyAI shares were trading at $1.30, a decline of more than 8%.