Companies and Brands

Boehner-Backed Cannabis Firm Raises $119 Million Ahead of IPO

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Vertically integrated cannabis cultivator and dispensary operator Acreage Holdings announced Monday that it has completed a Series E fund-raising round with $119 million in new funding that the company plans to use to prepare for a fall initial public offering (IPO) on the Canadian Securities Exchange.

In April, the former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, John Boehner, and former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld joined Acreage’s board of advisors and committed to joining the board of directors when that body is formed. The two politicians are taking on the task of persuading other legislators to support legalization.

Publicly traded firms in the marijuana industry have been on a tear recently. Last week, Tilray Inc. (NASDAQ: TLRY) raised $153 million sold 9 million shares at $17 in a Thursday IPO. Shares got a first-day pop of 32%, closed the week up 75% and have added another 13% or so shortly before noon Monday to trade at around $33.65.

Acreage has operations in 11 U.S. states and has announced plans to enter a 12th. Marijuana cultivation and use, whether medicinal, recreational or both, is legal in all the states where the company operates.

In today’s announcement, CEO Kevin Murphy said:

The response we received from our investor partners was profoundly encouraging. The combination of monies raised and the rollup cements Acreage as one of the best capitalized companies in the industry with a footprint that is second to none. This gives us an exceptionally strong investment proposition to bring into the public markets in our upcoming listing.

Company President George Allen added:

Our objective with our investors is to set the standard in terms of professionalism and competency in order to remove as much risk from cannabis investing as possible. It is a mission that will remain paramount to us as we transition from a private to a public investor base.

The North American Marijuana Index is up by nearly 89% in the past year and over 300% in the past three years.

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