iAnthus had few traditional options to bankroll its expansion because marijuana remains illegal under U.S. federal law. To go big, iAnthus’ then-CEO, Hadley Ford, reached out to someone he considered a friend: Jason Adler, founder of Gotham Green Partners, which had emerged as one of the biggest lenders in the cannabis industry.
Gotham Green ultimately agreed to loan iAnthus up to $140 million, but the lender was not obligated to provide the full amount.
This morning, New Cannabis Ventures received anonymously an audio recording of a conversation between former CEO Hadley Ford of iAnthus (CSE: IAN) (OTC: ITHUF) and an investor. We were able to confirm with the investor, who was aware that it had been leaked, that the recording is legitimate, though he claimed to have no involvement in sharing the information and had no intention for it to become public.
Multistate cannabis operator iAnthus Capital Holdings received a demand for repayment on a secured debenture issuance as well as a notice of intention to enforce security under Canadian bankruptcy law.
New York-based iAnthus defaulted on interest payments on that debt in April and expects to default on payments again at the end of June.
The debt totaled $159.1 million as of June 11, iAnthus said earlier this month.
Upon acceptance of a report from a special committee of independent directors which reviewed and confirmed allegations against its chief executive officer, iAnthus Capital Holdings accepted the resignation of CEO Hadley Ford. iAnthusco-founder and President Randy Maslow was named interim CEO. Maslow also serves as a member of the Federal Policy Council of the National Cannabis Industry Association, and on the board of directors for the Cannabis Trade Federation, the New Jersey Cannabis Industry Association, and the New York Medical Cannabis Industry Association.
Multistate marijuana operator iAnthus, partially blaming the coronavirus, said it is unable to meet interest obligations totaling $4.4 million on $157.5 million in debt.
The New York-based company also delayed announcing its quarterly earnings results.
“The decline in the overall public equity cannabis markets, coupled with the extraordinary market conditions that began in Q1 2020 due to the novel coronavirus … have negatively impacted the financing markets and have caused liquidity constraints for the company,” iAnthus said in a news release.
GrowHealthy plans to open its sixth store in the state on August 5, which will serve the Miami-Dade County population of approximately 2.7 million. The 4,000 square foot store will be located at 13400 Biscayne Blvd, North Miami, FL 33181. The Grand Opening celebration is planned for August 9-11 and details will be posted at www.growhealthy.com.
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.
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.