CleanSpark CLSK Acquires GRIID in 155 Million Stock Deal

CoinDesk reports:
CleanSpark (CLSK) is one of the largest publicly traded Bitcoin mining companies, and on Thursday, it announced the all-stock acquisition of one of its smaller competitors, GRIID Infrastructure.
The $155 million deal immediately brought CleanSpark an additional 20 megawatts of power to support its mining operations. Tennessee is expected to add another 400 megawatts of power over the next two years.
CleanSpark Acquires GRIID for $155 Million
The merger agreement requires CleanSpark to assume all of GRIID’s debts and other obligations. It also requires CleanSpark to provide a $5 million working capital loan to GRIID and repay a $50.9 million bridge loan to fulfill the small mining company’s other obligations.
CleanSpark CEO Zach Bradford stated in a press release, “This acquisition provides a clear and stable path for us to achieve the same proud accomplishments we have made over the past three years in Georgia over the next three years in Tennessee.”
“This achievement is supported by valuable long-term power contracts and the construction of over 400 megawatts of infrastructure.”
Following the announcement, GRIID’s stock price fell by more than 50%, while CLSK’s stock price rose by 4%, indicating that traders see the merger agreement as a significant deal.
According to Google Finance data, CleanSpark’s stock closed at $16.05 per share on Thursday, giving the company a market value of $3.6 billion. The company is one of the best-performing mining stocks so far this year (+47%), going against the trajectory of most industry participants whose stocks have plummeted significantly before Bitcoin’s halving.
Bitcoin Mining Acquisitions
CleanSpark is not the only mining company to announce an acquisition in recent months. Since late May, Riot Platforms (Riot) has been attempting a hostile takeover of Bitfarms (BITF), offering to acquire the company for $2.30 per share.
Bitfarms initially rejected the takeover offer a month ago, with Riot stating that the actions of the company’s board did not “meet the best interests of all shareholders.”
As of Thursday, BITF closed at $2.59 per share. RIOT’s stock has dropped by 11% since last month, to $9.12 per share.
Core Scientific (CORZ) is the former largest mining company that recently emerged from bankruptcy and is currently considering a potential acquisition offer of $1 billion from cloud computing company CoreWeave. Since the offer, CORZ’s stock has risen by 92% this month.