Bitfarms secures $300m loan to fuel AI and data center growth

Canadian Bitcoin mining company Bitfarms secured up to $300 million in private debt from Australian multinational investment firm Macquarie to fund its data center development.

Bitfarms has reached an initial agreement for a private debt facility of up to $300 million from Macquarie Equipment Capital to support its Panther Creek data center project in Pennsylvania.

In an April 2 press release, the Canadian crypto mining company said that the first tranche of the loan is $50 million, with the rest available if the company “achieves specific development milestones.”

Bitfarms CEO Ben Gagnon says the partnership with Macquarie is the beginning of its investment in the “near-term development” of Panther Creek data center, adding that amid the surging AI revolution and the growing demand for power and infrastructure, the financing “arrives at a pivotal time.”

“The maturity of each facility is two years from the date of closing. Each facility will bear interest at a rate of 8% per annum, with interest on the initial draw of $50 million paid in kind for the first three months.”

Bitfarms

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Joshua Stevens, an associate director at Macquarie, pointed out that the location is “within 100 miles of New York City and Philadelphia,” which could make it appealing to high-performance computing tenants. Following the announcement, Bitfarms’ shares rose by 2.54% on Nasdaq.

The loan agreement comes just weeks after Bitfarms completed its all-stock acquisition of Stronghold Digital Mining through a stock-for-stock merger, with Stronghold shareholders receiving 2.52 Bitfarms shares for every Stronghold share they held.

As crypto.news reported, nearly 60 million Bitfarms shares and over 10.5 million warrants were issued as part of the deal, and Stronghold’s stock was delisted from Nasdaq and ceased trading.

Read more: HIVE Digital buys Bitfarms’ Paraguay site for $56m, targets 25 EH/s by Q3

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