Strive proposed a public offering of a new perpetual preferred stock paying a fixed 15%, backed by an 18-month dividend reserve. In Tokyo, Metaplanet repurchased about 76% of the shares it offered to take in a block trade, and its stock rose 5.4%.
Two corporate bitcoin holders went back to their shareholders this week with opposite requests. Strive asked investors for more money. Metaplanet offered to take shares off their hands, and fewer accepted than it expected.
Strive's new preferred
Strive announced late Tuesday that it intends, subject to market conditions, to sell 5 million shares of a new 15.00% Series A Perpetual SATS Preferred Stock in a registered initial public offering. Dividends accumulate at 15% a year on a stated amount of $100 a share, so a full sale would raise about $500 million before costs and carry about $75 million a year in dividends.
The company is building in a cushion for that cost. At closing, Strive plans to set aside the first 18 months of dividends, equal to $22.50 a share, or about $112.5 million on a full sale, funded with cash and securities it already holds. Regular dividends would be payable on business days beginning Nov. 9.
The proceeds have more than one home. Strive listed general corporate purposes "including, among other things, the acquisition of bitcoin and bitcoin-related products," along with working capital, income-generating assets, and repurchases of its Class A common stock or its existing variable-rate SATA preferred, which currently pays about 13%. At a bitcoin price near $83,300, $500 million would buy about 6,000 coins if all of it went to bitcoin, which the company has not committed to.
The coupon is the signal. A fixed 15% sits above the floating rate on Strive's existing preferred, which suggests the company expects to pay more to attract new money than it did for its earlier issue.
Metaplanet's block trade
Metaplanet took the other route. Before Tokyo's open on Wednesday, it offered to buy back 96,934,800 shares, about 7.1% of its stock, at Tuesday's closing price of ¥261 through the exchange's off-auction ToSTNeT-3 system. It bought 73,981,400 shares for ¥19.31 billion, according to a company filing, about 76% of the shares it sought.
The trade is the first under a new program that allows Metaplanet to repurchase up to 200 million shares, or ¥60 billion, through Oct. 13, 2027. The company said the buyback is meant to soften the short-term effect on supply and demand for its shares from its zero-coupon convertible bond issue and to increase bitcoin holdings per share. After Wednesday's trade, about ¥40.7 billion and 126 million shares of capacity remain.
The stock closed Wednesday at ¥275, up 5.4% and above the buyback price.
What the shortfall means
An undersubscribed buyback means fewer holders wanted to sell at ¥261 than the company was prepared to absorb. That fits with a stock that then traded higher, though one session is a thin basis for conclusions, and a block trade at a fixed price can fall short for mechanical reasons.
Market implications
One reading is that the treasury bid is returning. Strive is back in the market days after a warrant expiry brought in fresh cash, and Metaplanet's holders were reluctant to sell even at a price set the day before.
A second reading is that the cost of funding these strategies is rising. A new 15% fixed coupon is a high price for capital, the proceeds may go to buybacks rather than bitcoin, and the largest treasury companies are now spending as much attention on their own shares as on coins.
What to watch
The pricing and final size of Strive's SATS offering, Strive's disclosure of its final warrant tally, and whether Metaplanet uses its remaining capacity in the open market will show how much new money reaches bitcoin.