Cannabis M&A (short for mergers and acquisitions) in California is much more complicated and problematic than in other states. The biggest reason for this is that licenses are not transferrable, which all but eliminates the possibility of asset sales. In turn, this means that deals are much more complicated for both buyer and seller, and
You may think that due diligence is something reserved for business or real estate purchases. But due diligence is also a must for lenders in cannabis loan transactions. I recently wrote a post about what borrowers can look forward to in cannabis loan transaction. Today I want to do a deeper dive into due diligence
Cannabis real estate transactions can be notoriously complicated – much more so than your average real estate deal. On January 9, 2024, I’ll be speaking on a panel called “Navigating Real Estate Issues Impacting the Cannabis Industry” for the Los Angeles County Bar Association, where my co-panelists and I plan on touching on many of
One of the best insurance policies a cannabis business can get is a written contract. Paying a lawyer a little bit up front can save hundreds of thousands when things go south. A lot of folks in the cannabis industry are still doing deals on a handshake basis (you can see some of our older
Can a creditor, landlord or other third party take a security interest in an OLCC license? Can an OLCC licensee collateralize or pledge its license– as if that license were personal property, and not just a permission conferred by the state? These are two sides of an academic question we’ve been batting around for years
It could soon be illegal to smoke marijuana in public if some New York politicians have their way. New York Assemblyman Michael Novakhov and Senator Mario R. Mattera are co-sponsors of a new bill that would ban the public use of cannabis unless a local government opts in to permit such public use. As it
One of the most important business decisions cannabis businesses need to make is whether to lease or buy real estate. I have worked on too many cannabis real estate transactions to count. And in my experience, the vast majority are leases. Today I want to look the top three reasons why that’s the case. #1
It’s pretty easy to write about everything that’s going wrong in today’s cannabis industry. Today, I want to change gears and talk about some of the strategies we’ve seen work for distressed cannabis businesses in the past. Yes, some of these strategies may seem obvious at first. But pulling them off correctly – especially in
California’s cannabis industry is a mess. Between the rampant illegal market, onerous taxation, unnecessarily complicated regulations, debt defaults, and a host of other factors, things have never been worse. Businesses big and small are imploding. Without federal bankruptcy protection, the best tool available to insolvent and nearly insolvent companies is gone. So we’re going to
It’s been an eventful month in Oregon cannabis. Below are some early summer notes on three things we’ve been doing and watching and writing about. The Chalice receivership I covered this last month as the ship was going down. Today, the Oregon receivership is well underway and we’re getting regular notices. It hasn’t been smooth
