iAnthus Capital: Trades At 11x Sales And May Get Even Better Soon
Summary
Summary
Stavola is staying on at iAnthus. She and her co-workers are now part of an organization that’s among about a half-dozen contestants racing to establish multistate marijuana chains, hoping for a chunk of what some claim could be more than $50 billion in annual sales of legal cannabis products. How long that takes and what it ultimately will look like are among the questions the young, fragmented marketplace must answer.
What many of you don’t know is the extraordinary story of how merging with MPX became an attractive opportunity for iAnthus and that one of the most prized assets that came with the US holdings in the deal was investment bank executive, MPX’s former COO and second largest shareholder, New Jersey native, and new iAnthus board director, Beth Stavola. When asked for comment about Stavola, Hadley Ford CEO of iAnthus said, “Beth Stavola is one of the pioneers in the industry. What she has been able to do in building MPX while raising six kids is the stuff of legends.
The deal is now official, as iAnthus Capital Holdings, Inc. has closed on its acquisition of MPX Bioceutical Corporation.
The combined company now has operations in 11 states which includes 63 retail locations and 15 cultivation/processing facilities.
Cannabis Executive Elizabeth Stavola contributed more than $35,000 to Gov. Phil Murphy and the New Jersey Democratic State Committee in the months before receiving conditional approval from the Department of Health to open a medical marijuana dispensary in Atlantic City.
Stavola, a New Jersey resident and chief operating officer of the publicly-traded Canadian cannabis company MPX Bioceutical, contributed $4,300 to Murphy’s campaign committee on Oct. 10, 2017, according to filings with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission.
The end of 2018 set the stage for more consolidation. Larger, more well-financed players were able to acquire smaller companies as the land grab frenzy heats up. Key end of year consolidations included MedMen's (MMNFF) acquisition of Pharmacann and the combination of iAnthus (ITHUF) and MPX Bioceuticals (MPXEF) . The latest announcement between Green Growth Brands and Aphria (APHA) has generated a heated discussion as to whether the proposed hostile bid is serious.
Looking to invest in publicly traded cannabis stocks? There’s good news and bad news.
Multistate marijuana firm iAnthus Capital agreed to acquire the U.S. assets of Toronto-based cannabis company MPX Bioceutical Corp. in an all-stock deal valued at 835 million Canadian dollars ($640 million), the second mega-acquisition in the American MJ industry in less than a week.
The acquisition positions New York-based iAnthus as one the largest U.S. cannabis operators and expands the firm’s footprint to 10 states, nearly doubling its reach.
No one is laughing at Scutari now. Having also authored the bill that made medical marijuana legal in New Jersey in 2010, he's now the industry darling, and it shows in the amount of money lobbyists, cannabis companies and doctors have poured into his election campaigns.
In the last three years, the marijuana industry has contributed tens of thousands of dollars to Scutari and other elected officials who are leading the charge on legalization, according to data filed with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission.
Sitting in her office overlooking the Navesink River, Beth Stavola laughs now as she tells the story of a night she spent in Arizona when she first got into the medical marijuana industry.
“I have this vivid recollection of lying in this Holiday Inn-type hotel, staring at the ceiling, asking myself, ‘What are you doing on the border of Mexico, waiting for your approval to operate from the Department of Health?’ ” she recalls.
She had found a place for a dispensary in Douglas, Arizona. Her husband was back home in New Jersey recovering from surgery.
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