MARA Holdings told Reuters on Thursday it will buy Long Ridge Energy & Power from FTAI Infrastructure for $1.5 billion including debt, a major step in the bitcoin miner’s push to reposition as a digital infrastructure and energy company.
Having been one of the largest companies mining and holding bitcoins in recent years, its shift towards digital infrastructure and the energy generation needed to power it comes as AI demand and advancements surge.
While its previous focus on cryptocurrencies is complementary to its revised strategy, MARA is increasingly looking to own energy assets to ensure it has sufficient power for data center development.
IDEAL ASSET FOR NEW STRATEGY
The acquisition of Long Ridge Energy represents a significant step in this evolution.
Long Ridge owns a 505-megawatt combined cycle natural gas power plant in Hannibal, Ohio, as well as more than 1,600 contiguous acres of land, upon which MARA plans to build a data center powered by the plant, the company said.
“It has all the key components for us, for the ideal data center campus,” MARA Chief Executive Fred Thiel said in an interview.
He said the plant was highly efficient due to its relatively young age — construction was completed in 2021 — and noted the land was already permitted for industrial use, reducing a major hurdle to data center development.
Thiel said MARA had already attracted interest from a number of potential tenants, including hyperscalers — firms that provide massive cloud-computing capacity — to lease space at the planned data center. He said the company expects to have a tenant lined up around the time the deal closes.
The acquisition is expected to close later in 2026, depending on regulatory approvals including from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
ASSETS TO PROVIDE INSTANT CASH
The $1.5 billion transaction includes the assumption of around $785 million in existing debt, and the Long Ridge power assets generate annualized adjusted earnings of around $144 million, the company said.
This provides MARA with cash flow ahead of contributions from the data center project.
Thiel said MARA’s ownership would not change the amount of power that Long Ridge provides to retail consumers.
Concerns are mounting across the United States about the strain data center development could place on the electric grid, with the PJM transmission region — where the plant is located — considered among the most at risk for disruption.
Source: Reuters.com