Sphere 3D Corp. announces merger agreement with Gryphon Digital Mining, Inc.

Sphere 3D Corp. [ANY]  a company delivering containerization, virtualization and data management solutions announces that it has entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger with Gryphon Digital Mining, Inc. ("Gryphon"), a privately-held company focused on the mining of bitcoin using renewable energy. Upon completion of the merger, the Company will change its name to Gryphon Digital Mining, Inc.

"Gryphon's future focus on mining using 100% renewable energy will set the bar for mining companies of the future. We have been engineering GPU-based converged systems for many years and are excited to leverage our experience to enhance the performance of Gryphon's operations. We believe the merger of the two companies provides an excellent opportunity to create meaningful value for our shareholders," said Peter Tassiopoulos, Sphere 3D's Chief Executive Officer.

About the Proposed Merger Transaction

As consideration for the merger transaction, Sphere 3D will issue 111,000,000 common shares to the shareholders of Gryphon, subject to adjustment, such that on closing, the Sphere 3D shareholders will own approximately 23% of the Company and Gryphon shareholders will own the remaining 77% on a fully diluted basis. The merger is expected to close in the third quarter of 2021, subject to the approval of the stockholders of each company, as well as other closing conditions, including the registration statement for the merger shares to be issued being declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Company's pending merger listing being approved by the Nasdaq, SEC and other applicatory regulatory bodies. Upon a successful closing of the merger, and all regulatory approvals, the Company will continue to trade on the NASDAQ. The transaction has been approved by the board of directors of both companies. PGP Capital Advisors, LLC acted as financial advisor and has provided a Fairness Opinion in support of the transaction to the board of directors of Sphere 3D. The closing of the merger agreement is subject to customary closing conditions for a transaction of this nature and may be terminated by the parties under certain circumstances.

Management and Organization

Following the merger, Rob Chang, Chief Executive Officer of Gryphon will be appointed to serve as the post-merger combined company's chief executive officer. Several members of the Gryphon leadership team will take key roles in the new Company.

The board of directors for the post-merger combined company will be comprised of seven directors, including two members from Sphere 3D's current board of directors.

Gryphon Executive Team and Board includes:

-CEO and Director Rob Chang - Former CFO of Riot Blockchain & former MD at Cantor Fitzgerald

-President Dan Tolhurst - Former senior strategist at Netflix & Disney

-Chair of the Board Brittany Kaiser - Blockchain regulatory expert & Congressional Subcommittee member

-Independent Director Richard Cooperstein - Partner at Media Investment Group & former Head of International Business Development at Facebook

-Independent Director Joseph Nejman - Entrepreneur in Residence at Tomorrow Ventures & former Strategic Partner Development at Google

Source: yahoofinance