Cultivation and retail continues to dominate M&A cannabis activity

The cannabis cultivation and retail sector has become increasingly crowded and competitive, but successful operators can still make themselves attractive acquisition targets.

The cultivation and retail sector has been the dominant force in marijuana M&A for the first five months of this year – and it maintained that leading position this week.

While the amount of deals in the sector involving public companies is exactly twice that of last year at this time (44 versus 22), 15 involved private companies compared with four in 2018. This week, three out of the seven closed deals were in cultivation and retail.

This weekly series from Marijuana Business Daily and Viridian Capital Advisors provides the latest data on cannabis investment activity and M&A, along with key takeaways, analysis and trends based on recent market moves.

The data below, provided by Viridian Capital Advisors, is through the week ended May 17.

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Top raises closed last week:

Natura Life + Science, a privately owned, vertically integrated cannabis company in California, closed a $91 million equity raise to build a marijuana campus in the Golden State. The company plans to begin manufacturing, distribution and delivery in the third quarter of 2019, with cultivation to begin in early 2020.
Ohio-based Green Growth Brands, which trades on the Canadian Securities Exchange under the ticker symbol GGB, closed a $45.5 million debt financing, which will be used for general and working capital. More details on the raise can be found here.

Top M&A deals closed last week:

Fire & Flower, an Alberta, Canada-based cannabis company trading on the TSX Venture Exchange as FAF, acquired four Saskatchewan dispensaries previously owned by Prairie Sky Cannabis. The deal involved a cash payment of 6.5 million Canadian dollars ($4.9 million) and the issuing of 4.96 million shares (approximate value CA$6.3 million).
Green Growth Brands closed the acquisition of a Nevada cultivation facility previously owned by two local companies for $13.37 million. More details can be found here.

Viridian Capital Advisors is a financial and strategic advisory firm that provides investment banking, M&A, corporate development and investor relations services to emerging growth companies and qualified investors in the cannabis sector.