Acreage Announces Sale of Florida Operations To Red White & Bloom Brands
NEW YORK, Feb. 25, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Acreage Holdings, Inc. (“Acreage” or the “Company”) (CSE: ACRG.A.U, ACRG.B.U) (OTCQX: ACRDF, ACRHF) today announced its subsidiary, High Street Capital Partners, LLC, has entered into a definitive agreement with Red White and Bloom Brands, Inc. (the “Buyer”) (CSE: RWB) (OTCQX: RWBYF), pursuant to which the Buyer will purchase all of the issued and outstanding shares of common stock of Acreage Florida, Inc. (“Acreage Florida”) for an aggregate purchase price of $60,000,000. Acreage Florida is licensed to operate medical marijuana dispensaries, a processing facility, and a cultivation facility in the state of Florida. The deal also includes the sale of property in Sanderson, Florida.
The sale of our Florida operations is a significant step in our previously announced operating strategy to focus on those core markets that we believe will accelerate our path to profitability and position us for significant long-term growth and cash generation.
Peter Caldini, Chief Executive Officer of Acreage Holdings
The cash proceeds will significantly bolster our balance sheet and position us to accelerate our cultivation expansion projects and open additional dispensaries to support our growth into key adult-use cannabis states such as Illinois and New Jersey.
Last summer, Acreage announced a focused core-market operating strategy in nine states in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest. The Company currently has active operations and licenses in 13 states and continues to pursue divestitures of its remaining non-core state operations and licenses.
Deal Terms
Aggregate Purchase Price: $60,000,000 in cash, stock, and other cash considerations including:
- An up-front cash payment of $5,000,000 upon execution of the definitive agreement.
- An additional $20,000,000 in cash, $7,000,000 in the Buyer’s common stock, and $28,000,000 in promissory notes upon closing the transaction.
Acreage anticipates closing the transaction during the second quarter of 2021.
ABOUT ACREAGE
With its principal address in New York City, Acreage is a multi-state operator of cannabis cultivation and retailing facilities in the U.S., including the company’s national retail store brand, The Botanist. Acreage’s wide range of national and regionally available cannabis products include the award-winning The Botanist brand, the highly recognizable Tweed brand, the Prime medical brand in Pennsylvania, the Innocent edibles brand in Illinois and others. Acreage also owns Universal Hemp, LLC, a hemp subsidiary dedicated to the distribution, marketing and sale of CBD products throughout the U.S. Since its founding in 2011, Acreage has focused on building and scaling operations to create a seamless, consumer-focused, branded experience. More information is available at www.acreageholdings.com.
On June 27, 2019, Acreage implemented an arrangement under section 288 of the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia) with Canopy Growth Corporation (“Canopy Growth”), which was subsequently amended on September 23, 2020 (the “Amended Arrangement”). Pursuant to the Amended Arrangement, upon the occurrence (or waiver by Canopy Growth) of changes in federal laws in the United States to permit the general cultivation, distribution and possession of marijuana (as defined in the relevant legislation) or to remove the regulation of such activities from the federal laws of the United States (the “Triggering Event”), Canopy Growth will, subject to the satisfaction or waiver of certain closing conditions, acquire all of the issued and outstanding Class E subordinate voting shares (the “Fixed Shares”) on the basis of 0.3048 of a Canopy Growth share per Fixed Share (following the automatic conversion of the Class F multiple voting shares and subject to adjustment in accordance with the terms of the arrangement agreement entered into between Acreage and Canopy Growth on April 18, 2019, as amended on May 15, 2019 and on September 23, 2020).
In addition, Canopy Growth holds an option, exercisable at the discretion of Canopy Growth, to acquire all of the issued and outstanding Class D subordinate voting shares (the “Floating Shares”) at the time that Canopy Growth acquires the Fixed Shares, for cash or Canopy Growth shares, as Canopy Growth may determine, at a price per Floating Share based upon the 30-day volume-weighted average trading price of the Floating Shares on the CSE relative to the trading price of the Canopy Growth shares at the time of the occurrence or waiver of the Triggering Event, subject to a minimum price of US$6.41 per Floating Share.
For more information about the Amended Arrangement please see the Acreage proxy statement and management information circular dated August 17, 2020 (the “Circular”) and the respective information circulars of each of Acreage and Canopy Growth dated May 17, 2019, which are available on Acreage’s and Canopy Growth’s respective profiles on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and filed with the SEC on the EDGAR website at www.sec.gov. For additional information regarding Canopy Growth, please see Canopy Growth’s profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
