MARA Wins FERC Approval for $1.5 Billion Long Ridge Power Deal
Key Takeaways
- FERC approved the acquisition of Long Ridge Energy, citing it as consistent with the public interest.
- The deal includes a 505 MW natural gas plant and 1,600 acres of industrial land with rail and water access.
- MARA's owned power generation capacity will increase by over 300% upon closing.
MARA (NASDAQ: MARA) won US energy regulatory approval for its roughly $1.5 billion acquisition of Long Ridge Energy & Power, clearing a hurdle in the bitcoin miner’s expansion into electricity generation and artificial-intelligence infrastructure.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the proposed purchase, MARA said in a Thursday release. The deal would give MARA control of an operating natural-gas power plant alongside land earmarked for data-center development in Ohio.
MARA agreed in April to buy Long Ridge from subsidiaries of FTAI Infrastructure. The assets include a combined-cycle gas plant in Hannibal and more than 1,600 contiguous acres with access to water, fiber and rail infrastructure. The site sits beside MARA’s existing bitcoin-mining operations.
The acquisition would extend MARA’s business beyond mining bitcoin into owning the power infrastructure needed to support computing facilities. Its existing Hannibal operation provides a foothold for a planned campus serving AI and other demanding computing workloads.
When announcing the acquisition, MARA described the plant as having 505 megawatts of nameplate capacity, with 485 megawatts then authorized for sale. It outlined potential development of as much as 600 gross megawatts of AI and critical-information-technology capacity over time. Its initial timetable called for construction to begin in the first half of 2027 and initial service in mid-2028.
The power plant also brings an operating business ahead of that development. MARA cited approximately $144 million in annualized adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, calculated from Long Ridge’s second-half 2025 results. The company said that illustrative measure was not a forecast.
Financing preparations have included securing bondholder consent to amend Long Ridge’s debt terms. In May, MARA said holders of a majority of the outstanding 8.75% secured notes due in 2032 approved changes that would avoid triggering a requirement to offer to repurchase the bonds upon the acquisition. Those changes remain conditional on closing and other requirements.
