Cannabis sector lender Trichome successful in bid for James E. Wagner

Trichome Financial Corp. has been declared successful in its stalking horse bid for Ontario-based James E. Wagner Cultivation Corp. (JWC), the latter company announced Tuesday.

JWC, which entered creditor protection earlier this year, plans to seek a court order approving the bid as “as soon as possible,” according to a news release.

Toronto-based cannabis sector lender Trichome, which had a debtor-in-possession loan deal with JWC, initially made a stalking horse bid of 11.95 million Canadian dollars ($8.61 million) for the company’s assets, including property, inventory and other goods.

The debtor-in-possession facility was originally for CA$4 million ($2.88 million), but JWC’s authorized borrowings were increased to CA$5.5 million ($3.96 million) on May 11.

According to a court filing, JWC needed that additional funding “largely due to the impact of COVID-19 on sales, as well as certain sales that were forecasted to occur in these proceeding but are now forecasted to occur at a later date.”

The minimum qualified bid for JWC’s assets was subsequently raised to CA$13.45 million.

Other Canadian cannabis cultivators to enter creditor protection in recent months include:

Shares of James E. Wagner Cultivation trade on the TSX Venture Exchange as JWCA.