Ms. Sue Ennis reports

HUT 8 RECEIVES COURT APPROVAL IN ITS STALKING HORSE BID FOR FOUR NATURAL GAS POWER PLANTS INCLUDING THE NORTH BAY BITCOIN MINE

Hut 8 Corp. has received an approval and vesting order from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice (commercial list) in the context of the continuing proceedings pursuant to the companies' creditors arrangement act of Validus Power Corp. (VPC) and certain of its subsidiaries (collectively, the Validus entities).

Among other things, the approval and vesting order approves the company's previously announced stalking horse bid transaction to acquire four natural gas power plants, including the North Bay bitcoin mine, which was submitted in partnership with Macquarie Equipment Finance Ltd., a subsidiary of Macquarie Group Ltd., a global financial services group.

In connection with the approval of the transaction, a new Ontario subsidiary of Hut 8 (BidCo) will become the owner of certain assets of VPC, and the assets and operations, and equity interests, of certain Validus entities. Specifically, upon completion of the transaction, BidCo will acquire, free and clear of any encumbrances (excluding certain permitted encumbrances), four natural gas power plants located in Ontario:

• 40 MW (megawatt) facility in Kapuskasing;
• 110 MW facility in Kingston;
• 120 MW facility in Iroquois Falls;
• 40 MW facility and bitcoin mine in North Bay.

Completion of the transaction would also include a new secured financing arrangement between Macquarie and BidCo in the form of an operating lease facility, and Macquarie receiving a minority equity interest in BidCo of approximately 20 per cent, while a subsidiary of Hut 8 will be the majority owner of the remaining approximately 80 per cent. Completion of the transaction remains subject to the satisfaction of other standard conditions to closing. The completion of the transaction, which is anticipated to occur by Feb. 15, 2024, is also expected to result in the full and final resolution of all litigation claims and counterclaims currently pending between Hut 8 and certain Validus entities.

About Hut 8 Corp.

Through innovation, imagination and passion, Hut 8's seasoned executive team is bullish on creating value at the intersection of infrastructure and energy through bitcoin mining and hosting, groundbreaking managed services, energy arbitrage, operating traditional data centres, and capitalizing on emerging technologies such as AI (artificial intelligence) and machine learning. Headquartered in Miami, Fla., Hut 8's infrastructure portfolio includes 11 sites: five high performance computing data centres across British Columbia and Ontario that offer cloud, co-location, AI, machine learning and VFX (visual effects) rendering computing solutions; and six bitcoin mining, hosting and managed services sites located in Alberta, New York, Nebraska and Texas. Long distinguished for its unique treasury strategy, Hut 8 has one of the highest inventories of self-mined bitcoin of any publicly traded company globally.

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