Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MARA), which claims to be one of the largest publicly traded Bitcoin miners and a leader in supporting and securing the Bitcoin ecosystem, has entered into a definitive purchase agreement to acquire Applied Digital Corporation’s Bitcoin mining data center in Garden City, Texas, with “a name plate capacity of 200 megawatts, for a purchase price of $87.3 million, or approximately $437,000 per megawatt, prior to any purchase price adjustments. Marathon will pay the purchase price in cash from its balance sheet.”
This transaction is Marathon’s second major acquisition of data centers “dedicated to Bitcoin mining in the last four months and increases the amount of self-owned and operated megawatts in Marathon’s Bitcoin mining portfolio to 54%.”
Prior to the acquisition of its first two data centers, which closed in January of this year, Marathon’s Bitcoin mining portfolio “consisted of 584 megawatts, 3% of which resided on sites directly owned and operated by the company.”
Following the close of this acquisition and the anticipated expansion of the site in 2024, Marathon will have “increased the number of megawatts in its mining portfolio to 1.1 gigawatts, 54% of which will reside on sites directly owned and operated by the company.”
The Bitcoin mining data center in Garden City, Texas is “located adjacent to a wind farm and uses predominantly renewable energy. It was constructed and energized in 2023 and supports a workforce of approximately 25 employees. At this site, Marathon is currently converting approximately 100 megawatts (c. 4.5 exahash of miners) into economic value via Bitcoin mining.”
By acquiring this data center, Marathon will” take direct ownership of its current on-site operations and will also gain an additional 100 megawatts of capacity in which to expand, 32 megawatts of which are expected to be available as of the closing date and the remainder of which are subject to regulatory approvals. Marathon expects to expand its presence at the site in 2024 by an additional 100 megawatts to accommodate a total of 200-megawatts of capacity dedicated exclusively to Marathon’s Bitcoin mining operations.”
In addition to providing Marathon with more influential and “secure ownership of its operations as well as expansion opportunities, this transaction is also expected to reduce the cost per coin of Marathon’s current operations at the site by approximately 20%.”
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is “expected to close in the second quarter of 2024.”
Fred Thiel, Marathon’s chairman and CEO, said:
“After taking over ownership and operational control of the data centers we recently acquired in Granbury, Texas and Kearney Nebraska, we are building on that momentum by now acquiring the Bitcoin mining data center in Garden City, Texas from Applied Digital. This transaction increases our influence over our current operations, reduces our cost per coin by approximately 20% at the site, and provides us with an additional 100 megawatts of capacity in which to expand.”
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP is serving as legal advisor to Marathon in connection with the transaction and Lowenstein Sandler LLP is serving as legal advisor to Applied Digital.
