The American mining company MARA Holdings has finalized its acquisition of a 64% stake in the French data center operator Exaion.
It’s time. MARA’s transaction to acquire a 64% stake in EDF subsidiary Exaion has been completed, with Xavier Niel and Fred Thiel joining Exaion’s Board as we scale secure HPC and AI infrastructure from France. pic.twitter.com/TqFiSs3Hub
— MARA (@MARA) February 20, 2026
The financial terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed. In August 2025, Bloomberg reported that MARA had offered the owner of Exaion—an investment arm of energy giant EDF—$168 million in cash.
According to a press release, EDF retains a minority stake in its former subsidiary.
As part of the deal, MARA has formed a strategic partnership with NJJ Capital, owned by French billionaire Xavier Niel. NJJ will acquire a 10% stake in the miner's financial division.
The board of Exaion will include three representatives from MARA and EDF Pulse Ventures, and one from NJJ. The board will also feature the CEO and co-founder of the data center provider, mining firm CEO Fred Thiel, and Niel.
Delayed Response to the AI Turn?
In January, MARA lost its lead among public companies in the industry by total hashrate of Bitcoin, overtaken by Bitdeer.
Source: BitcoinMiningStock.In terms of market capitalization, MARA has slipped to eighth place in the sector, valued at $3 billion. Just mid-October, the company's market value was around $8.5 billion. Competitors like IREN ($13.4 billion) and TeraWulf ($6.3 billion) have confidently surpassed it, actively expanding their involvement in AI services.
MARA holds 53,250 BTC (worth approximately $3.6 billion), making it second only to Strategy in terms of corporate Bitcoin reserves.
Recall that in February, mining company Cango sold 4,451 BTC (about 60% of its cryptocurrency holdings) and announced plans to expand into AI.