The bitcoin miner Riot Platforms (RIOT) has withdrawn its offer to acquire Bitfarms (BITF), a peer, and plans to restructure the board prior to pursuing any more takeover actions.
“Over the course of more than a year of attempting to engage constructively with the Bitfarms Board regarding a potential combination of Bitfarms and Riot, it has become evident to Riot that good faith negotiations simply will not be possible until there is real change in the Bitfarms boardroom,” Riot said in a press release on Monday.
In place of the present Bitfarms board members, the miner is proposing John Delaney, Amy Freedman, and Ralph Goehring. A special meeting was called by Riot, which has grown to be Bitfarms’ largest stakeholder with 14.9% of the firm, to remove director Andrés Finkielsztain, temporary CEO Nicolas Bonta, and anyone else who might take over as CEO following co-founder Emiliano Grodzki’s resignation.When today ends, Riot will also try to remove any more directors that the Bitfarms board has selected.
Riot made an aggressive takeover offer to purchase Bitfarms for $2.30 per share last month, but that offer was quickly turned down. In an effort to put pressure on the board to speak with the miner, Riot persisted in purchasing its rival’s shares.After that, Bitfarms put in place a “poison pill” or shareholder rights plan to stop Riot from purchasing the business.
Riot announced that it would press on with its acquisition pursuit because, if successful, a combination would produce the biggest publicly traded bitcoin miner in the world, one that is “well positioned for long-term growth.” Bitfarms’ stock price dropped more than 6% on Monday, but it is still trading above its $2.30 buyout offer per share, suggesting that traders may still consider BITF as a possible acquisition target. As bitcoin dropped 3% during the previous day, Riot shares saw a modest decline.