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Charles Schwab is expected to announce a deal to acquire Forge Global, the private share marketplace, with an offer valued at as much as $600mn as it seeks to broaden investor access to closely held Silicon Valley unicorns.
Schwab is set to pay as much as $45 per share for Forge Global, according to two people familiar with the terms, roughly triple the price of the San Francisco-based company’s shares before the Financial Times reported that it had put itself up for sale. The price would represent a near 75 per cent premium to Forge Global’s closing price on Wednesday.
The transaction could be announced as soon as this week, though there is no assurance the parties will agree and it could fall through at the last minute. A Schwab spokesperson declined to comment. Forge Global did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The prospective deal comes just a week after Morgan Stanley acquired EquityZen, a direct competitor of Forge Global. Groups including OpenAI and SpaceX have secured valuations in private markets reaching hundreds of billions of dollars.
Earlier this year, Texas-based Schwab rolled out an alternative investment platform that allowed clients with more than $5mn in investible assets to get access to private equity and hedge fund investments. Schwab, founded in the 1970s, pioneered the discount stock brokerage business, though the company has since shifted to more formal advice offerings.
Founded in 2014, Forge Global went public in 2021 through a blank-cheque company merger sponsored by the fintech fund Motive Partners. Its shares have dropped by 90 per cent as the company has struggled to increase revenue amid heavy competition.
Charles Schwab has a market capitalisation of $170bn and oversees almost $12tn in client assets. It acquired rival digital broker TD Ameritrade for $26bn in 2020.