Schwazze signs deal to buy Colorado cannabis retailer Star Buds for $118M

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Denver-based Schwazze, a vertically integrated cannabis company formerly operating as Medicine Man Technologies, signed definitive acquisition agreements to purchase 14 Star Buds retail locations in Colorado for $118 million in a cash and stock deal.

The acquisitions include 13 retail operations – four dispensaries in Denver, two dispensaries in Aurora, one dispensary each in Commerce City, Longmont, Louisville, Niwot, Pueblo, Pueblo West and Westminster – as well as a cultivation facility in Denver.

“The addition of Star Buds builds on our customer-centric focus and will significantly expand our retail operations footprint while also increasing return to shareholders,” Schwazze CEO Justin Dye said in a news release.

The deal was part of a larger Schwazze buying spree that began in 2019 under new Colorado legislation regarding outside capital and the company planned to purchase up to 11 marijuana businesses.

But not all the deals have materialized.

Colorado Springs, Colorado-based Strawberry Fields recently terminated a $31 million agreement in which Schwazze would have acquired the marijuana retail chain.

Colorado Harvest Co. also walked away from a deal in which Schwazze had agreed to buy three cannabis storefronts for $12.5 million.

Schwazze, which in April took the name of a proprietary marijuana pruning technique developed by the company, trades on the over-the-counter markets as SHWZ.