FERC approves miner MARA's acquisition of Long Ridge natural gas power plant

BlockBeats news, November 5 — According to Matthew Sigel, head of digital asset research at VanEck, the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has approved bitcoin miner MARA Holdings' (MARA) acquisition of Long Ridge's natural gas power generation assets (docket No. EC26-92). Sigel said that objections raised by the Market Monitoring Unit (IMM) on grounds related to BlackRock and Vanguard were not upheld, and FERC also declined to make keeping the plant's output in the PJM grid a condition of approval.

According to his breakdown, the transaction has an enterprise value of approximately $1.512 billion, corresponding to about 0.5 GW of natural gas generation capacity (485 MW approved output, 505 MW nameplate capacity) and approximately $144 million in annualized adjusted EBITDA, implying a valuation of about 10.5x. Recent PJM gas-fired power transactions have valued at about 7x, which would put the plant itself at roughly $1 billion; MARA is paying about $500 million more for land, gas wells, rail and expansion options. MARA will retain approximately $900 million of Long Ridge debt and needs about $610 million in cash, which is planned to be covered by the roughly $600 million bitcoin-backed loan already drawn in August, with an outside closing date of November 30.

Sigel noted that MARA has discussed about 600 MW of total AI load at the site, including about 200 MW of existing grid-connected load; whether the expansion will go through the Starwood joint venture and whether MARA can retain up to a 50% stake remains unclear. He believes the next catalyst may be a lease signed around closing.