Verano deal terminated.
Goodness Growth Holdings (GDNSF) and Verano Holdings announced their deal for Verano to acquire Goodness Growth has been terminated. Under the Arrangement Agreement, Verano agreed to acquire all of the issued and outstanding subordinate voting shares, multiple voting shares and super voting shares of Goodness. Goodness believes that Verano has no legal basis to terminate the Arrangement Agreement, and that Verano has committed various material breaches of the Arrangement Agreement. Verano’s repudiation of the Arrangement Agreement has been acknowledged by Goodness, and the Transaction will not proceed. Goodness intends to immediately commence legal proceedings against Verano to seek significant damages for, among other things, Verano’s material breaches of the Arrangement Agreement, Verano’s failure to discharge its obligations thereunder and Verano’s breach of the duties of good faith and honest contractual performance. The Termination Notice claims that Verano has grounds to terminate the Arrangement Agreement on the basis of 1. alleged breaches of certain representations made by Goodness, 2. Goodness’ alleged failure to give reasonable consideration to Verano’s comments on the draft Goodness proxy circular prepared by Goodness and reviewed and cleared by the United States Securities Exchange Commission, 3. the refusal of the board of directors of Goodness to re-evaluate the terms of the transaction despite the fact that no material adverse changes had occurred to either Goodness or Verano, and 4. Goodness’ alleged failure to reaffirm its recommendation to shareholders to vote for the Transaction, which recommendation had not yet been made and was planned to be made in the Proxy, which was anticipated to be mailed to the shareholders of Goodness next week. Goodness denies all of these claims and will take legal action against Verano.
Cresco Expanding in Florida Market.
Cresco Labs announced today the expansion of its Sunnyside retail brand in Florida’s Panhandle region with the opening of a second dispensary in Pensacola. The Company now has 54 nationwide dispensaries and is their 20th store in Florida. “We’re excited to continue expanding access to Cresco Labs’ leading portfolio of products across Florida and to make a trip for medicine more convenient for Pensacola’s patients,” said Charlie Bachtell, co-Founder and CEO of Cresco Labs. “Furthermore, we’d like to express a heartfelt ‘Thank You’ to all first responders, volunteers, patients, and employees who are assisting in the Hurricane Ian recovery effort. Despite some damage, our stores have reopened, allowing our wellness advisors to continue to provide access to medical cannabis to Florida patients. Additionally, we’re holding a canned food and water drive at all Sunnyside dispensaries throughout the state and our Indiantown facility. Many of our team members suffered significant damage to their homes and we will continue to provide them with on-going disaster relief and recovery assistance as necessary.”
New York Cannabis.
The first application window to obtain a adult-use cannabis license in New York closed on September 26th with close to 1000 applications coming through the portal. Applicants must've had past cannabis convictions as well as have experience running a successful business. New York will only hand out 150 licneses with 70 of those coming from New York City. State officials are scrambling to fulfill their promise to secure and build out retail space for the first group awarded dispensary licenses and develop a $200 million equity fund to provide startup capital to those who need it. The goal is to have the first batch of dispensaries up and running before the end of 2022 — less than three months away. The role out of adult-use cannabis in New York as been a joke, so to expect the social equity part of their roll out being successful is an absolute reach.
