B Riley to Take $100 Million Equity Stake in Publicly Listed Bitcoin Miner Iris Energy

cryptonews.com:

Publicly traded sustainable Bitcoin (BTC) mining firm Iris Energy has signed a deal with investment bank B. Riley Financial per which the latter can buy up to $100 million in equity over the next two years.

According to the filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), B. Riley can buy up to 25 million Iris Energy shares over two years starting with September 23, stating that, 

"Such shares would represent approximately 31.3% of outstanding Ordinary shares as of September 1, 2022."

The company expected to issue 198,174 shares to B. Riley “as consideration for its irrevocable commitment” to purchase more shares.

The agreement will automatically terminate after the 24-months period. 

The filing stated that,

We intend to use any proceeds from the Facility to fund our growth initiatives (including hardware purchases and acquisition and development of data center sites and facilities), and for working capital and general corporate purposes.

The company did warn of certain risks, though, stating that it is impossible to predict how many ordinary shares, "if any", Iris Energy will sell under this agreement to B. Riley, or the actual gross proceeds resulting from those sales, it said. 

Furthermore, the price of shares may fall in the future, and there are risks associated with taxation, regulation, third parties, and the crypto market. 

Additionally, it noted, B. Riley may not necessarily agree with all decisions possibly made in the future, stating: 

"We may use proceeds from sales of our Ordinary shares made pursuant to the Purchase Agreement in ways with which you may not agree or in ways which may not yield a significant return."

The move by the company would suggest that there is still an interest by certain