GLASS HOUSE
Glass House Brands (GLASF), a California-based vertically-integrated cannabis company, today announced that it has entered into a senior secured term loan agreement with a U.S.-based private credit investment fund for up to US$100 million, with an initial draw of US$50 million. Glass House's vision is to become the most potent cannabis brand-building platform in California. This financing will fund the retrofit of the SoCal Facility and help lower COGS through scale and automation. The company has a planned total footprint of 6 million square feet and projected total biomass production of approximately 1.7 million pounds, making Glass House Brands the largest and most efficient cannabis supplier in the US. GLASG has been down over 58% in the last six months and now trading below the real estate value of the Californa assets. We are digging into the name and will have more thoughts in early 2022.
Europe 2022
This week Malta could become the first European country to legalize the cultivation and possession of cannabis for personal use. According to the Guardian, a vote in favor of the legislation in the Maltese parliament on Tuesday will be followed by the law being signed by the president for it to be enacted by the weekend. Possession of up to seven grams of the drug will be legal for those aged 18 and above, and it will be permissible to grow up to four cannabis plants at home, with up to 50g of the dried product storable. The move by Malta is likely to be followed by reform across Europe in 2022. Germany recently announced a move to establish a legally regulated market, following Switzerland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, and possibly Italy. Boris Johnson has been accused of taking a Richard Nixon-style “war on drugs” approach. The change in approach by several European governments follows a decision by the UN last December to remove cannabis from a listing of drugs designated as potentially addictive and dangerous and having little or no therapeutic use.
One Issue left for RI?
House Speaker Joe Shekarchi (D) told WPRI-TV that while legislators are “still not there” on a final product, he’s “happy to report that we’ve worked down to almost one issue that’s left, but it’s not there yet.” That Issue relates to who should regulate the cannabis market—a new independent commission or the state Department of Business Regulation.
