Born Inc. (BRRN)

[horst]

Current assessment of QUTR/FiveT Capital Holding AG/Sonostro/Avaloq connections as of 10/4/20:

Here's my best attempt to connect all the dots. It's quite long....

(click image to enlarge and make zoomable)


Note: there are other FiveT subsidiaries I've seen referenced, but I didn't bother going into all of them due to lack of detailed information.

Onward: along with FiveT Capital AG, Sanostro is also headquartered in the Avaloq HQ building at Allmendstrasse 140, 8041 Zürich, Switzerland. These three companies have very interesting crossover once we take into account that 1) FiveT Capital Holdings AG owns approximately 72%+ of Sanostro via its stake in Sonsostro Holding AG, and Sonostro in turn does significant business with Avaloq.

At the nexus of this crossover are the Avaloq Corporate HQ building, Sonostro, and Johannes M. Roth. From the breakdown of Sonostro ownership (see below), we can deduce that Roth is probably the majority stakeholder in FiveT Capital Holding AG, which he founded and for which he's currently listed as a partner and director. Roth is also the CEO of Avaloq subsidiary Avaloq Ventures. Or at least he was majority stakeholder last time Sonstro updated its ownership schedule in 2019... Let's review what's known:

Sanostro basic business info:



FiveT Capital AG contact page:



Avaloq Headquarters, where FiveT Capital AG and Sonostro are likewise headquartered:



So it's clear that Avaloq, Sanostro, and FiveT Capital AG share the same headquarters in that massive Avaloq building. Parenthetically, FiveT Capital Holding AG lists its mailing address, as it has in all its SEC filings, at the office of Raber Treuhand GMBH, a reputable bookkeeping/accounting/tax firm.

• http://www.business-informations.ch/RABER-TREUHAND-GMBH.html
• https://raeber.ch

Regarding everything that's been posted about FiveT Capital Holding AG's ownership of Sanostro via Sanostro Holding AG: the data conclusively and indisputably means that FiveT Capital Holding AG owns (or owned as of the last ownership update anyway) approximately 72%+ of Sanostro indirectly by way of their stake in Sanostro Holding AG. There is no other valid way to interpret that data. Here's a quick breakdown along with how to think about direct/indirect ownership:



After I did the above graphic (which I hastily knocked out in a few minutes to counter some FUD), I noticed that since FiveT Capital Holding AG owns "75% or more" and Wolfgang Batt owns "more than 25%" of Sanostro Holding AG, it's safe to drop the "or more" from our estimates and assume they have almost precisely 75%/25% stake in Sanostro Holding AG, with the other two, Couson and Schrago, owning negligible amounts of that entity. At any rate, estimating FiveT Capital Holding AG's net ownership of Sanostro via Sanostro Holding AG is simple: it's around 72%, maybe a smidge more depending on how many shares direct owner Wetscher has. And that last detail doesn't matter at all.

Indirect ownership, by the way, is a VERY SIMPLE CONCEPT and is not a lesser form of ownership. It simply means owning via another entity. Indirect ownership through a limited liability company offers extra liability protections that direct ownership does not. "AG" in Swiss company names is short for "aktiengesellschaft" and simply means "public limited company."

Here's a very simple example to drive home the point: If I owned 7 cheeseburgers and kept them in my personal cheeseburger account under my name, that would be direct ownership of seven cheeseburgers. If a private fund I'd invested in, "Cheeseburger Holding AG," directly owned 10 cheeseburgers, and I owned 70% of Cheeseburger Holding AG, it would mean I owned 7 cheeseburgers *indirectly* through my stake in Cheeseburger Holding AG. I'd still own them, just through my stake in another entity. If Jimmy ate one and got food poisoning and sued, I'd have liability protection for my personal assets with indirect ownership. Owning a stake in something via another entity is the dictionary definition of indirect ownership and not a thing to argue about. Any pretenses suggesting indirect ownership is less than or not as good as direct ownership are missing the mark by A LOT. Hopefully the difference between direct vs. indirect ownership is sufficiently clarified and settled in perpetuity.

On to Johannes M. Roth

• FiveT Capital AG and FiveT Capital Holding AG founder and former CEO, currently a FiveT partner and director.

• Current CEO of Avaloq Ventures

• If Sanonstro's ownership has remained the same, Roth would be a major if not majority stakeholder in Sanostro via his "More than 50% and less than 75%" stake in FiveT Capital Holding AG, which in turn indirectly owns ~72% of Sanostro Holding AG, which is of course the "95% or more" stakeholder of Sanostro.

Roth's "More than 50% and less than 75%" stake in FiveT Capital Holding AG is quite interesting: it means he is (or to be precise was as of Sonostro's last ownership update in 2019) the majority owner of FiveT Capital Holding AG, the company which just purchased $QUTR's control bloc. There is no evidence suggesting he sold his stake in FiveT Capital Holding AG. Personally I'd be surprised if he didn't retain his majority stake in FiveT Capital Holding AG, which he founded.

As such, I believe it's a reasonable assumption that Johannes M. Roth is the majority stakeholder in FiveT Capital Holding AG, the company which just took control of $QUTR last week.



The detail about Roth's stake in FiveT Capital Holding AG in the Sanostro ownership schedule turned out to be the single most interesting clue in this mystery!

A little more info: Roth was designated as Managing Director of FiveT Capital Holding AG as recently as April 28, 2020, just 5 months ago:



So from what is publicly available and can be reasonably deduced, Wieland Kruder is $QUTR's highly reputable and experienced CEO (and all other $QUTR officer positions until we hear otherwise), while all available evidence also suggests that Johannes M. Roth is likely to be the majority stakeholder in FiveT Capital Holding AG, the company which purchased $QUTR's control bloc.

For clarity, showing all these connections doesn't tell us what the plan is for $QUTR. We have to wait for them to tell us via PR, hopefully sooner than later. We do know they have a track record as major activist investors in companies such as Plug Power, American Apparel, and The Street, and from the PLUG filings and others, we know that FiveT Capital Holding AG, who purchased QUTR's control bloc, is the parent company of FiveT Captial AG, its wholly-owned subsidiary, and that they're doing some high-dollar investments. Nice to know they have cash and liquidity.





And we know they have a stake in Sanostro which provides its platform to Avaloq, and that Roth is CEO of Avaloq Ventures. It's all of interest, but again does not tell us what's next with $QUTR.

Given all of the above, I think Roth is highly likely to be involved with $QUTR, which I'd imagine would bode very well for $QUTR and open up a lot of doors to interesting opportunities.

Disclaimer: I'm just posting publicly available facts to the best of my researching ability and showing how they seem to fit together in my own view, and not implying or predicting anything beyond that. I never under any circumstances give financial advice or buy/sell recommendations, so please don't ask. You all have to make your own decisions about trading, and about what level of risk you're comfortable with. These are high-risk trades and no outcome is certain, so hopefully it goes without saying that caution is always merited.

All my opinion as always….

H