Riot Platforms (NASDAQ 🙂 said on Thursday that it had acquired an additional 1,432,063 shares of Bitfarms (BITF) at about $2.70 per share, for a total of about $3.87 million.
This purchase brings Riot's ownership to 57.62 million Bitfarms shares, equivalent to approximately 14% of the company.
Bitfarms shares rose 16% in Toronto on Friday.
The move marks the latest step in Riot's ongoing attempt to hostilely acquire Bitfarms.
Last month, the Bitcoin miner made an offer to acquire Bitfarms for around $950 million. However, Bitfarms has taken defensive measures against the acquisition.
Riot CEO Jason Les criticized the move.
“Rather than engaging with us privately and in good faith, Bitfarms responded by deploying an off-market poison pill with a trigger well below the usual 20% threshold,” Les said in a statement.
Earlier this week, Bitfarms adopted a “poison pill” strategy designed to avoid an acquisition, a strategy intended to make the company less attractive.
According to Reuters, under Bitfarms' plan, if an entity acquires more than 15% of Bitfarms' stake between June 20 and September 10, the company will issue new shares, thereby diluting the entity's ownership. After September 10, this threshold will be adjusted to 20% if certain conditions for an attempted acquisition are met.
Riot Platforms plans to call a special meeting of Bitfarms shareholders, where they intend to propose several independent directors to join the Bitfarms board of directors.
Bitfarms on Friday announced its expansion into the United States with the establishment of a new site in Sharon, Pennsylvania. The firm plans to develop up to 120 megawatts (MW) of electrical capacity at this new location, he said in a statement.
