Bitdeer Closes in on SPAC Deal in Tricky Market
SPAC deals have slowed immensely since 2021, but Bitdeer is one of the few companies that’s managed to near the finish line
rafapress/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks
Bitdeer is one step closer to becoming one of a handful of Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPAC) to go public in 2023. The deal is valued at $1.18 billion, after being valued at $4 billion when first announced.
After three delays, the company will begin trading under the ticker symbol BTDR on Friday. The company originally planned to go public in November 2021, around the time when SPAC hype was at an all-time high.
So far in 2023, only six companies have filed for IPOs, with 11 still searching according to data from SPACInsider. In 2021, 129 SPACs hit the market.
The mining company will merge with a Hong Kong-based blank check company called Blue Safari Group Acquisition. Blank check companies go public to raise money and have no set business plans, with the aim of looking for a company to acquire or merge with.
Bitdeer, which is headquartered in Singapore, has five mining facilities operating globally. Similarly to competing mining companies Riot and Marathon, it also has a Texas mining facility. The company had an aggregate megawatt capacity of 775, according to SEC documents.
According to Riot’s website, its Rockdale facility has a capacity of 750 megawatts. It announced last year that it would be expanding to give the company “1.7 gigawatts of total developed capacity.”
Marathon obtained a capacity of over 300 megawatts after it entered into a hosting arrangement with Applied Blockchain in July 2022.
“We are already a leading hash rate supplier, and our public listing will allow us to make even greater contributions to the crypto economy. Looking ahead, we are well-positioned to generate sustainable value as we execute on our long-term business strategy,” Bitdeer CEO Linghui Kong said in the 8-K filed with the SEC.
With its Nasdaq listing, Bitdeer will join Riot and Marathon — both have previously gone public on the tech-focused exchange.
Bitdeer is a spin-off of Bitmain — an at times controversial China-based mining chip manufacturer which recently was reportedly fined more than 24 million yuan for tax violations.
Updated April 13, 2022 at 10:54 am ET: The deal is now worth $1.18 billion after being valued at $4 billion initially.
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