Riot Platforms and Bitfarms settle acquisition dispute: changes to Bitfarms’ Board of Directors and a ban on Riot purchasing additional shares.
On September 23, Riot Platforms and Bitfarms resolved the dispute regarding the $950 million offer presented last April by Riot to acquire its rival company. As part of the agreement, Riot withdrew its request to convene a special shareholders’ meeting. Additionally, Riot will maintain its 19.9% stake in Bitfarms, which represents 90,110,912 common shares, and cannot purchase additional shares without the approval of the Board of Directors.
Changes in the Board of Directors
As part of the resolution, co-founder Andrés Finkielsztain resigned from Bitfarms’ Board of Directors and left his position to the independent figure of Amy Freedman, proposed by Riot. Freedman brings 25 years of experience in corporate governance and public capital markets, including a previous position at Morgan Stanley.
Freedman will join the Governance and Nomination Committee, the Compensation Committee, and any special committees of independent directors.
Jason Les, CEO of Riot Platforms, stated:
“This agreement represents a significant step to advance shareholder value creation at our respective companies and we are pleased to have reached this constructive resolution with Bitfarms.”
Ben Gagnon, CEO of Bitfarms, stated:
“We are pleased to reach this agreement with Riot. We remain focused on diversifying the business beyond Bitcoin mining into new areas like energy generation, energy trading, heat recycling and other high-value revenue streams like HPC/AI.”
