The large Canadian-based Multi-State Operator (MSO) TerrAscend is buying Aunt Mary’s dispensary in Flemington in Hunterdon County in Central Jersey.
Table of Contents
They expect to make money on it quickly.
MSO Gobbles Up Aunt Mary’s
“Aunt Mary’s is a strong performer, generating over $10 million in annualized revenue,” said Jason Wild, Executive Chairman of TerrAscend. “We see a clear opportunity to enhance margins through vertical integration and the introduction of our premium brand portfolio….”
“This acquisition reflects our continued focus on disciplined, accretive transactions, and we remain active in evaluating additional opportunities to expand our retail footprint,” he claimed.
According to TerrAscend, Aunt Mary’s is located in a high-traffic retail corridor in Flemington, New Jersey. The dispensary includes 5,200 square feet of retail space and benefits from limited nearby competition. It opened for medical cannabis sales in February 2023.
TerrAscend is paying $9 million through $3 million in five-year unsecured convertible promissory notes bearing interest at 6.0% for an option to purchase 35% of Aunt Mary’s (“Option”) and $6 million in cash.
According to them, “the transaction conforms to New Jersey’s regulatory framework, which facilitates investment opportunities for diversely owned businesses.”
Their announcement does not make clear what allegations made Aunt Mary’s “diversly owned.”
The NJ Cannabis Regulatory Commission (CRC) awarded Aunt Mary’s a vertically integrated cannabis license that included a dispensary, cultivation, and manufacturing as Altus New Jersey in Central Jersey in the 2019-2021 medical cannabis lottery round.
They were later approved to begin cultivation and enter adult-use cannabis sales.
Aunt Mary’s is not a CEO personality-driven company and marketing effort you often find with independent NJ dispensaries and small businesses in general. Aunt Mary’s website seems to focus on its team without anyone seeming to be in charge.
In fact, nothing in Aunt Mary’s marketing makes it clear whether or not there’s a real Aunt Mary.
These things can be hit or miss. Wendy’s Wendy was real, but Betty Crocker was not.
TerrAscend Corp
According to them, TerrAscend Corp. has operations in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Ohio, California, and Canada.
They operate the Apothecarium chain and other dispensaries, as well as scaled cultivation, processing, and manufacturing facilities. TerrAscend’s cultivation and manufacturing practices yield consistent, high-quality cannabis, providing industry-leading product selection to both the medical and legal adult-use markets.
The Company owns or licenses several brands, including The Apothecarium, Cookies, Ilera Healthcare, Kind Tree, Legend, State Flower, Wana, and Valhalla Confections.
The NJCRC still has to approve the transaction.
They did approve the transaction of the Union Chill dispensary in Lambertville, which TerrAscend announced without noting the female Pennsylvanian co-founder, Laurie McHugh, had sadly passed prior to the purchase.
The corporation is trading on the stock market in Canada, where it trades for less than a dollar per share.
TerrAscend also wants to trade in the United States on the stock market.
It would be interesting to figure out a way to calculate how much their shares would be worth if the Schedule III marijuana rescheduling proposed by the Trump Administration fails.
A lot of the Canadian-traded cannabis stocks are not worth much.
Heady NJ hears they have labor issues and several lawsuits against them in other states.
The federal government is suing TerrAscend for not paying $8.3 million in taxes in 2024.
