HIVE Blockchain Announces Strategic Partnership and Share Swap Agreement with Argo Blockchain
Mon May 13, 2019
ZUG, Switzerland and VANCOUVER, May 13, 2019 /CNW/ - HIVE Blockchain Technologies Ltd. (HVBTF) (TSX.V:HIVE) (OTCQX:HVBTF) (the "Company or "HIVE) is pleased to announce that it has entered a non-binding letter of intent and heads of terms and a share swap agreement with Argo Blockchain PLC (LSE:ARB) ("Argo) to explore a proposed strategic partnership to create the world's largest business-to-business mining service provider aimed at large-scale enterprise and institutional customers. The proposed strategic partnership will enable all miners to benefit from the combination of the two groups' existing mining capacity, including part of HIVE's equivalent mining capacity of 45 megawatts ("MW) and Argo's 10.5MW capacity and presents a significant opportunity to service strategic institutional clients that require Mining-as-a-Service (MaaS) infrastructure to mine virgin coins from safe jurisdictions like North America and Europe.
"We are excited about this strategic partnership and our analysis indicates that Argo is significantly undervalued," said Frank Holmes, Interim Executive Chairman and Interim CEO. "They have a healthy cash position with more than £16 million, as of December 31, 2018, and since then Argo has deployed some of the most efficient ASIC chips to expand Bitcoin operations while cryptocurrencies continue to rebound from lows seen at the beginning of 2019. In our view, the crypto market is ready for a mining solution focused on enterprise customers that require accountability and transparency. Our combination of scale, software and teams will be transformational in this growing market."
"This deal makes strategic sense and demonstrates the intrinsic value of our business, our vision and existing investment," added Jonathan Bixby, Executive Chairman of Argo. "The alliance is transformational for Argo and will deliver long-term and sustainable fiat-based revenue streams."
This proposed strategic partnership will leverage the strengths of Argo's Canadian infrastructure including software, capacity, team, competitive electricity prices in Quebec and hardware costs and HIVE's industrial scale production capacity in Iceland and Sweden, its assets located in Norway, and HIVE's deep experience and expertise in the cryptocurrency mining and blockchain ecosystem.
As part of the agreement, HIVE and Argo are considering a share swap arrangement, by which Argo will receive approximately 5% of HIVE's outstanding share capital in exchange for approximately 15% of Argo's outstanding share capital. The transaction does not involve any cash payments by either side and is expected to close on May 30, 2019 subject to among other customary conditions, negotiation and execution of binding agreements, both parties completing satisfactory due diligence, obtaining their respective board of directors' approvals, and to completing an independent external valuation of HIVE.
About Argo Blockchain PLC
Argo Blockchain plc is a global data centre management business that provides a flexible platform for the mining of leading cryptocurrencies. Argo is headquartered in London, UK and operates state-of-the art data centres in Quebec, Canada. The Company's shares are listed on the main market of London Stock Exchange (LDNXF) under the ticker: ARB
About HIVE Blockchain Technologies Ltd.
HIVE Blockchain Technologies Ltd. is a growth oriented, TSX.V-listed company building a bridge from the blockchain sector to traditional capital markets. HIVE is strategically partnered with Genesis Mining Ltd. to build the next generation of blockchain infrastructure. HIVE owns state-of-the-art GPU-based digital currency mining facilities in Iceland and Sweden, which produce newly minted digital currencies like Ethereum continuously as well as cloud-based ASIC-based capacity which produces newly minted digital currencies like Bitcoin. Our deployments provide shareholders with exposure to the operating margins of digital currency mining as well as a growing portfolio of crypto-coins.
For more information and to register to HIVE's mailing list, please visit www.HIVEblockchain.com. Follow @HIVEblockchain on Twitter and subscribe to HIVE's YouTube channel.
On Behalf of HIVE Blockchain Technologies Ltd.
Frank Holmes
Interim Executive Chairman
https://seekingalpha.com/pr/17509403-hive-blo...blockchain
Mon May 13, 2019
ZUG, Switzerland and VANCOUVER, May 13, 2019 /CNW/ - HIVE Blockchain Technologies Ltd. (HVBTF) (TSX.V:HIVE) (OTCQX:HVBTF) (the "Company or "HIVE) is pleased to announce that it has entered a non-binding letter of intent and heads of terms and a share swap agreement with Argo Blockchain PLC (LSE:ARB) ("Argo) to explore a proposed strategic partnership to create the world's largest business-to-business mining service provider aimed at large-scale enterprise and institutional customers. The proposed strategic partnership will enable all miners to benefit from the combination of the two groups' existing mining capacity, including part of HIVE's equivalent mining capacity of 45 megawatts ("MW) and Argo's 10.5MW capacity and presents a significant opportunity to service strategic institutional clients that require Mining-as-a-Service (MaaS) infrastructure to mine virgin coins from safe jurisdictions like North America and Europe.
"We are excited about this strategic partnership and our analysis indicates that Argo is significantly undervalued," said Frank Holmes, Interim Executive Chairman and Interim CEO. "They have a healthy cash position with more than £16 million, as of December 31, 2018, and since then Argo has deployed some of the most efficient ASIC chips to expand Bitcoin operations while cryptocurrencies continue to rebound from lows seen at the beginning of 2019. In our view, the crypto market is ready for a mining solution focused on enterprise customers that require accountability and transparency. Our combination of scale, software and teams will be transformational in this growing market."
"This deal makes strategic sense and demonstrates the intrinsic value of our business, our vision and existing investment," added Jonathan Bixby, Executive Chairman of Argo. "The alliance is transformational for Argo and will deliver long-term and sustainable fiat-based revenue streams."
This proposed strategic partnership will leverage the strengths of Argo's Canadian infrastructure including software, capacity, team, competitive electricity prices in Quebec and hardware costs and HIVE's industrial scale production capacity in Iceland and Sweden, its assets located in Norway, and HIVE's deep experience and expertise in the cryptocurrency mining and blockchain ecosystem.
As part of the agreement, HIVE and Argo are considering a share swap arrangement, by which Argo will receive approximately 5% of HIVE's outstanding share capital in exchange for approximately 15% of Argo's outstanding share capital. The transaction does not involve any cash payments by either side and is expected to close on May 30, 2019 subject to among other customary conditions, negotiation and execution of binding agreements, both parties completing satisfactory due diligence, obtaining their respective board of directors' approvals, and to completing an independent external valuation of HIVE.
About Argo Blockchain PLC
Argo Blockchain plc is a global data centre management business that provides a flexible platform for the mining of leading cryptocurrencies. Argo is headquartered in London, UK and operates state-of-the art data centres in Quebec, Canada. The Company's shares are listed on the main market of London Stock Exchange (LDNXF) under the ticker: ARB
About HIVE Blockchain Technologies Ltd.
HIVE Blockchain Technologies Ltd. is a growth oriented, TSX.V-listed company building a bridge from the blockchain sector to traditional capital markets. HIVE is strategically partnered with Genesis Mining Ltd. to build the next generation of blockchain infrastructure. HIVE owns state-of-the-art GPU-based digital currency mining facilities in Iceland and Sweden, which produce newly minted digital currencies like Ethereum continuously as well as cloud-based ASIC-based capacity which produces newly minted digital currencies like Bitcoin. Our deployments provide shareholders with exposure to the operating margins of digital currency mining as well as a growing portfolio of crypto-coins.
For more information and to register to HIVE's mailing list, please visit www.HIVEblockchain.com. Follow @HIVEblockchain on Twitter and subscribe to HIVE's YouTube channel.
On Behalf of HIVE Blockchain Technologies Ltd.
Frank Holmes
Interim Executive Chairman
https://seekingalpha.com/pr/17509403-hive-blo...blockchain
