Bidders circling with assets of marijuana brand High Times in receivership

Brokers handling the asset sale of cash-strapped marijuana brand and publication High Times are nearing a deal to unload its West Hollywood store, MJBizDaily has confirmed.

A separate buyer has placed a six-figure offer on 420.com, one of several other assets up for sale from the Los Angeles-based parent of High Times, Hightimes Holding Corp., which entered receivership in April.

The stalking-horse bid will set the pace for the online asset, with other interested bidders required to up the ante in any successive offers.

“My goal is to maximize the sale for the receivership,” said Drew Mathews, CEO of San Diego-based Green Life Business Group, which is handling the liquidation proceedings of one of the most well-known brands in the cannabis industry.

Other assets for sale, according to Green Life marketing materials, include:

• Five operational or built-out California stores in Blythe, Coalinga, Redding, San Bernardino and Shasta Lake.
• A distribution, manufacturing and delivery operation in Lynwood.
• A 10,000-square-foot cultivation business in Sacramento.
• Intellectual property, including High Times magazine and related assets, 420.com, Dope Magazine, Cannabis Cup events, social media accounts and more.

Assets could bring $11 million-plus

Mathews told MJBizDaily on Tuesday the lot of assets could fetch more than $11 million, though the window to attract substantive offers is closing with a May 17 deadline approaching.

“It’s one of the biggest deals ever through a receivership,” Mathews said.

At its peak, High Times was grossing more than $21 million annually, he added.

The sell-off also includes certain assets of the California operation of multistate company Moxie.

Los Angeles-based Hightimes Holding Corp. acquired Moxie in November 2022.

Under that deal, Long Beach-headquartered Moxie received about 1.4 million shares of Hightimes voting common stock, MJBizDaily reported at the time.

Auction an option

If the assets fail to generate substantive offers, they will placed on auction and sold to the highest bidders.

All asset sales must be approved by the court.

Kevin Singer was appointed receiver for High Times in April.

He also served as receiver for the recent unwinding of now-defunct California marijuana distributor Herbl, which had outstanding debt likely eclipsing $10 million, according to court documents and industry sources.

CRB Monitor, which tracks and monitors licenses in the regulated industry, reported last month that High Times shuttered at least three of its branded marijuana stores in California, leaving affected employees and vendors in the dark.

Its stores in Blythe, Redding and Shasta Lake remain open, Mathews said.

Disturbing trend

In California, the world’s largest regulated marijuana market, the issue of unpaid invoices has raged for more than a year.

Los Angeles-based MSO MedMen Enterprises’ downward spiral is another example of retailers not paying invoices to brands, distributors and former employees.

High Times was pushed into receivership after failing to repay $28.8 million to lender ExWorks, which went into receivership as well, according to Green Market Report.

In October, High Times’ parent company and its board chair, Adam Levin, paid more than $600,000 in fines to settle securities-fraud allegations.

Though Levin did not admit to any wrongdoing under a settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, he agreed to a three-year ban from serving as an officer or director, according to the SEC.

Hightimes Holding was formed in 2017 to acquire the rights to the legendary marijuana lifestyle magazine High Times and market its brands.