CleanSpark Inc (NASDAQ:CLSK) reported that it has agreed to acquire Bitcoin miner ATL Data Centers, LLC for up to $19.4 million in CleanSpark stock.
CleanSpark said the acquisition will provide a profitable, full-scale demonstration facility for the company to maximize energy efficiency and integrate renewables for power-intensive applications such as high-density data centers and Bitcoin mining.
“As part of our strategic acquisition initiative, we identified energy-intensive companies facing the greatest amount of exposure to high power costs and resiliency risk," said CleanSpark CEO Zachary Bradford in a statement.
"Our prior experience in the digital currency mining industry provided insight into how proper energy management was crucial to successful and profitable mining operations.”
READ: CleanSpark developing software that helps companies become more energy efficient
He added: “In 2018, CleanSpark's energy professionals were tasked to design and engineer a microgrid solution for a 'stand-alone' mobile Bitcoin mining system. As part of the ATL complex we now have 23 such mobile mining rigs in addition to the main facility. This acquisition enables us to take our prior designs and expand upon them at a much greater scale. We believe today's transaction allows us to obtain a significant and rapid return on our investment while further validating our energy technologies. We began early-stage analysis of ATL in February 2020 to evaluate expanding the facility's energy capacity and reducing energy costs. After an in-depth examination of the profitability under the existing energy structure, it was apparent that it was a perfect fit to deploy the aforementioned strategy."
He added: “The company expects to demonstrate that, by using our technologies, we can reduce the cost of energy to below $0.0285 per kw/h. After successfully deploying the systems, we intend to take this model to other sites, many of which have significantly higher energy costs offering potentially greater opportunities for savings."
CleanSpark noted that the pending transaction represents the first strategic acquisition as part of a larger growth plan following the company’s recent $40 million institutional investment.
CleanSpark Executive Chairman Matthew Schultz also weighed in on the acquisition, stating: “This transaction should immediately position us as one of the largest publicly-traded Bitcoin producers in the country. We will certainly be the only microgrid company that owns and controls the distributed energy supply to its own mining activities, in furtherance of developing our best-in-class technologies. Our efforts will demonstrate to potential clients in this space an easily transferable, low risk for execution model that can quickly enhance their bottom line.”
CleanSpark said plans to deploy its software technologies and trade secrets to maximize energy savings, expand total power capacity, provide resilient electricity, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Contact Sean at sean@proactiveinvestors.com