MARA Seals $850M Convertible Offering As Bitcoin Blazes Past $100K: Retail Opinions Are Split

Shares of MARA Holdings Inc (MARA) were in focus on Thursday, along with other Bitcoin-related stocks, after the crypto asset crossed the crucial $100,000 mark with conviction. Bitcoin was up over 4% on Thursday morning while MARA shares were up over 5% in the pre-market session.

MARA also attracted attention after it announced the closing of its zero-percent convertible senior notes offering via which it raised $850 million with the net proceeds amounting to approximately $835.1 million.

The company also granted the initial purchasers an option to purchase an additional $150 million of the notes within a 13-day period.  

MARA said it expects to use approximately $48 million of the net proceeds to repurchase about $51 million of its existing convertible notes due 2026 in privately negotiated transactions.

The remainder of the net proceeds will be used to acquire additional Bitcoin and for general corporate purposes, which include working capital, strategic acquisitions, expansion of existing assets, and repayment of additional debt and other outstanding obligations.

The conversion rate for the notes is initially 28.9159 shares of MARA’s common stock per $1,000 principal amount of notes. This is equivalent to an initial conversion price of approximately $34.5830 per share.

The company recently announced that its Bitcoin production rose 26% to 907 in Nov. 2024 compared to October while it mined 254 blocks, up 27% on a sequential basis.

MARA CEO Fred Thiel said November was a record-breaking month for the company, with its mining operations achieving unprecedented levels of production driven by the successful deployment of additional miners and enhanced operational efficiency.

"Our BTC production grew 26% month-over-month to 907 BTC and energized hash rate increased to 46.1 EH/s, a 15% increase over October. Notably, a portion of our bitcoin and hash rate was acquired outside of our own mining pool,” he said.

As of the end of November, the firm has acquired 12,965 BTC year-to-date at an average price of $77,692 and mined an additional 8,563 BTC. MARA now holds a total of 34,959 BTC, valued at $3.3 billion based on a spot price of $95,000 per BTC.

Meanwhile, retail sentiment about MARA on Stocktwits continued to trend in the ‘bullish’ territory (58/100), accompanied by high message volume.

MARA Sentiment Meter and Message Volume as of 7:26 a.m. ET on Dec. 5, 2024 | Source: Stocktwits

Retail chatter, however, indicated mixed takes on the stock.

Shares of MARA have gained over 13% since the beginning of the year. While Bitcoin has hit record highs, MARA shares are still far from their one-year high of about $34.

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