FERC Approves MARA Holdings' Acquisition of Long Ridge Gas Power Assets

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has approved Bitcoin miner MARA Holdings’ (MARA) acquisition of Long Ridge’s natural gas power assets. According to Odaily, the approval is recorded under docket EC26-92; FERC rejected objections from the Independent Market Monitor (IMM) citing BlackRock- and Vanguard-related concerns and did not require the plant to continue supplying power to the PJM grid as a condition of approval. Matthew Sigel, VanEck’s head of digital asset research, said the transaction has an enterprise value of about $1.512 billion. It includes roughly 0.5 gigawatts of natural gas generation capacity, with approved output of 485 megawatts and nameplate capacity of 505 megawatts, and about $144 million in annualized adjusted EBITDA, implying a valuation of approximately 10.5 times EBITDA. Recent PJM natural gas power transactions have been valued at about seven times EBITDA, which Sigel said implies a plant value of around $1 billion; he attributed the roughly $500 million premium to land, gas wells, rail access and expansion options. MARA will retain about $900 million in Long Ridge debt and pay approximately $610 million in cash. The company plans to fund the payment with a roughly $600 million Bitcoin-backed loan drawn in August. The transaction’s outside date is November 30. Sigel said MARA cited about 600 megawatts of total AI load at the site, including roughly 200 megawatts of existing grid-connected load. It remains unclear whether expansion will proceed through a Starwood joint venture and whether MARA can retain up to a 50% stake. Sigel said a potential next catalyst could be the signing of a lease before or around closing.