Curaleaf dips into CT dispensary market with Midwest acquisition
Photo | Curaleaf
A Curaleaf vaporizer pen and capsules.
Massachusetts-based Curaleaf Holdings, which operates one of Connecticut’s four medical marijuana growing businesses, said it’s agreed to buy a multi-state pot operator for $875 million.
Curaleaf, which grows in Simsbury, said it intends to purchase for cash and stock Illinois-based Grassroots/GR Companies Inc., which won a Groton dispensary license late last year, under the name GR Vending CT LLC.
While Curaleaf both grows and sells retail marijuana products in multiple states (a business model known as “vertically integrated”) it would be one of the first examples of vertical integration in Connecticut’s marijuana market.
The Department of Consumer Protection said Wednesday it was aware of the proposed deal and that the dispensary license acquisition would require approval. It also said there’s nothing specific in Connecticut’s marijauna law that bars vertical integration. Such combined ventures would only be subject to anti-trust law, the agency said.
Grassroots holds only one dispensary license out of a total of 18 in Connecticut, where medical marijuana has been sold legally for nearly five years. Grassroots lists 61 dispensary licenses across the country, 20 of which are operational, as well as 17 cultivating and processing licenses.
The deal is expected to close early next year.
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