Wall Street investment banks Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley are offering their high-net-worth clients a chance to invest in Uber, Coins2Day has learned. This is part of an ongoing $2.1 billion fundraise that was disclosed late last year, led by T. Rowe Price and Tiger Global (which also happens to be an investor in Uber rival Lyft).
CNBC was first to report the Merrill Lynch (BAC) and Morgan Stanley (MS) involvement. It says that minimum investments are $1 million.
The securities being offered are Series G preferred stock, which a Delaware filing reports are valued at $48.77 per share. That would give the company around a $62 billion pre-money valuation. Its Series F stock was valued 23% lower at $39.64 per share.
This is not the first time that Uber has tapped Wall Street for capital. It late 2014 the company hired Goldman Sachs (GS) to sell its high-net-worth clients on a $1.6 billion fundraise.
The big difference between then and now ― beyond valuation ― is that the Goldman offering was convertible debt rather than preferred stock. Moreover, the debt notes contained a provision whereby Uber would have to effectively provide holders with additional securities if it didn’t go public by a certain time. The exact deadline remains years out and, even if Uber misses it, the company can offset it (and more) by continuing to sell new preferred stock at higher prices.
Uber has not responded to a request for comment.
In other Uber financing news, the company’s Chinese affiliate recently raised money at a $7 billion pre-money valuation from such local backers as HNA Group, China Taiping Insurance Holdings, China Life Insurance, Guangzhou Automobile Grou and Citic Securities.