Samara announced that it has sold its stake in its major portfolio company Block.one for c. € 110m at an implied valuation of c. € 4.0bn. While we reflected a valuation of c. € 5.5bn in our SOTP, the discount looks reasonable given the currently challenging market environment combined with the volatile nature of such an investment.

During an extraordinary AGM, the shareholders voted in favor of a € 1.30 special dividend per share, resulting in payouts of c. € 74m of the € 110m. We expect the remaining c. € 36m to be used to capitalize on attractive investment opportunities in accordance with the company's shifted focus towards a digital asset management platform.

A first investment is already announced: Samara Asset Group invested c. € 9m in the flagship market-neutral strategy fund of its newly launched US-based asset management subsidiary Samara Alpha Management (SAM). The ultimate goal of the SAM team is to capitalize on inefficiencies in the digital asset space. By employing rigorous due diligence and by leveraging deep industry networks, the SAM  team as well as curated portfolio of diversified digital asset managers intends to take advantage of opportunities in the digital asset market landscape to deliver compelling risk-adjusted returns. With its digital asset management platform, SAM opens doors for investors seeking exposure to this asset class.

With the sale of the B1 stake Samara´s overall portfolio composition has changed significantly: The 6.7% share in the listed company Northern Data is now dominating the portfolio with a share of 41%. The 11.5% of own shares (Samara Treasury shares) is now the second biggest single investment with 12% of the total NAV. The remaining ten (non-listed) companies are contributing 7.9%. Most importantly, the fund investments (investment into SAM) are ramping up significantly, contributing already 20% to the total NAV. This, paired with sale of the B1 stake can be clearly seen as another indicator for the further acceleration of Samara´s strategic transition from a leading publicly traded Bitcoin and blockchain holding company to a deep-tech powered alternative asset management platform.

After the sale of the illiquid B1 stake, the majority of the total NAV is now stemming from rather liquid listed companies. We hence reduce our holding discount on the NAV from 10% to 5%. Since Samara is already trading close to its NAV, we downgrade to HOLD with a new PT of € 2.60 based on our SOTP.