Argo’s creditor grabs 87.5% stake in struggling miner in bold takeover move

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Argo Blockchain’s largest lender, Growler Mining, is taking power of the embattled crypto miner done a debt-for-equity swap that leaves existing shareholders with conscionable a tiny involvement successful the company.

The restructuring, filed nether the UK Companies Act, reveals that Growler volition person astir $7.5 cardinal successful secured loans and supply caller backing successful speech for 87.5% of Argo’s recapitalized equity.

Bondholders of Argo’s $40 cardinal unsecured notes volition collectively person 10%, portion existent shareholders volition clasp lone 2.5%. The deal, portion of a court-supervised restructuring program dubbed Project Triumph, is designed to forestall insolvency and sphere the miner’s Nasdaq listing.

“Unless the Plan Company [Argo] implements a restructuring of its equilibrium sheet, the Plan Company volition beryllium incapable to get the backing it needs and volition beryllium insolvent connected some a currency travel ground and a equilibrium expanse basis,” Argo said.

Argo to delist from LSE

Argo volition besides delist from the London Stock Exchange, ending a six-year tally arsenic 1 of the UK’s fewer publically traded crypto companies. Its shares volition proceed to commercialized connected Nasdaq, provided the steadfast meets compliance conditions, including a planned reverse banal divided earlier Jan. 2026.

The institution remains incorporated and headquartered successful London, but its capital-market absorption volition displacement wholly to the United States. In 2018, Argo became the archetypal cryptocurrency company to database connected the London Stock Exchange, raising astir $32 cardinal for a valuation of $61 million.

The filing revealed that Argo’s Bitcoin (BTC) output has plunged implicit the past 2 years, from astir six coins a time successful 2022 to hardly 2 successful 2024, arsenic aging machines and precocious vigor costs crushed profitability.

The miner has sold its Helios installation successful Texas to Galaxy Digital, leaving operations concentrated successful Canada’s Baie-Comeau tract and US hosting centers successful Tennessee and Washington State.

End of Argo’s epoch arsenic Britain’s nationalist company

Growler’s takeover includes a program to inject caller capital, dubbed “Exit Capital,” and transportation ownership of Growler USCo, a subsidiary with caller mining assets, into Argo successful speech for caller shares. The determination gives the lender operational power and the means to refresh Argo’s outdated fleet earlier it becomes obsolete successful 2026.

If approved by the High Court of England and Wales, the restructuring volition erase astir of Argo’s indebtedness load, rescue its Nasdaq listing and manus power of the institution to its creditors. For investors, however, it’s a near-total wipeout, and the extremity of Argo’s epoch arsenic 1 of Britain’s public-market crypto pioneers.

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