MPX Bioceutical Archives - Green Market Report

Debra BorchardtFebruary 3, 2022

iAnthus Capital Holdings, Inc. (CSE: IAN) (OTC: ITHUF) closed its acquisition of MPX New Jersey, LLC, a medical cannabis permit holder in New Jersey. The acquisition was originally announced in 2018 with a value of $835 million, but became a tangled mess with competing lawsuits.

On January 7, 2022, the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission approved iAnthus NJ’s acquisition of MPX NJ. As previously announced in the company’s February 2, 2021 news release, iAnthus NJ issued $11 million aggregate principal amount of senior secured bridge notes, the net proceeds of which are being used primarily for the construction and improvements of facilities leased by iAnthus NJ.

Since that time, iAnthus NJ has continued to make significant construction progress at its cultivation and manufacturing facility in Pleasantville, New Jersey and plans to start operations in the near term. Additionally, upon receipt of the necessary approvals from the CRC, MPX NJ expects to open its dispensary facility in Atlantic City, New Jersey in the next few months, and then two prospective satellite dispensaries in New Jersey upon approval of MPX NJ’s pending satellite applications filed with the New Jersey Department of Health in December, 2020.

Troubled Acquisition

In 2020, MPX NJ sued iAnthus Capital Management and its New Jersey subsidiary. MPX accused iAnthus of improperly going after the operation of the Pleasantville Alternative Treatment Center by trying to negotiate with regulators. A the time the judge ruled against iAnthus according to a story on NJ.com.

The story said that in a remote hearing, Judge Joseph Quinn issued an initial order that said iAnthus could not represent itself as MPX NJ without disclosing the pending agreement before the health department or enter into contracts that bind MPX. “iAnthus must also inform former shareholder Beth Stavola of all contracts and construction at the Pleasantville cultivation site, and avoid additional unauthorized construction in parts of the facility where marijuana is being grown.” Stavola sold her original cannabis assets to MPX Bioceuticals and then proceeded to build that company to become an attractive property, which iAnthus acquired. She was the founder and CEO of Stavola Medical Marijuana Holdings, Health for Life Inc, GreenMart of Nevada, and CBD For Life.

iAnthus has been mired in shareholder lawsuits since the company claimed it couldn’t make its debt payments and the lender Gotham Green essentially took the company. Shareholders have filed lawsuits claiming that iAnthus had the funds to make the debt payments and feel the company was stolen from them.

In December, Law360 reported that iAnthus Capital Holdings Inc. and Gotham Green Partners asked a New York federal court to toss a pair of shareholders’ securities fraud suits over purportedly misleading disclosures and allegedly self-interested financing deals. “The proposed class action asserts that iAnthus made false and misleading statements about its expanding business operations without disclosing to stockholders that it did not use escrowed funds to make necessary interest payments. On April 6, 2020, iAnthus announced it had defaulted on $4.4 million in interest payments to Gotham Green because of the coronavirus pandemic, as well as a decline in cannabis markets overall.”

Debra BorchardtDecember 11, 2018

MPX Bioceutical

MPX Bioceutical Corporation (CSE: MPX; OTC: MPXEF) announced that GreenMart NLV, LLC, a subsidiary of MPX, has been awarded four conditional retail marijuana store licenses in the state of Nevada.

GreenMart is a fully-operational cultivation, production, and kitchen facility that produces MPX-branded wholesale products for both the adult-use and medical markets in Nevada. The new dispensaries will operate under the “Health for Life” brand, which is the company’s flagship retail brand. Nevada recorded more than half a billion dollars in cannabis sales during the first year that adult use was legal, according to the Nevada Department of Taxation, exceeding many expectations.

MedMen Enterprises

MedMen (MMEN.CN) (MMNFF) announced that it has closed its previously announced acquisition of a dispensary license in Emeryville, California from B12, LLC.

MedMen paid a combination of cash at closing and shares of MedMen in an undisclosed amount. The transaction closed within 90 days of signing. With the closing of the acquisition, MedMen will have one of only two adult-use cannabis dispensary licenses issued in the City of Emeryville, just outside San Francisco. MedMen currently operates eight dispensaries in Southern California. The Emeryville dispensary will be located in the commercial heart of the East Bay and is expected to open in 2019.

In the last month, MedMen acquired additional licenses in Arizona. Through the acquisition of PharmaCann, MedMen will own an additional twenty-five licenses across 12 states (permitting operation of an additional 18 retail facilities and 7 cultivation/manufacturing facilities).

Liberty Health Sciences Inc.

Liberty Health (CSE: LHS) (OTCQX: LHSIF) opened its first South Florida dispensary in the heart of Miami. The new dispensary provides customers in Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida, access to premium quality medical marijuana products and educational services.

Located at 6827 Bird Road, Miami, FL., the dispensary is on one of the oldest and busiest state roads in Miami, with traffic exceeding 70,000 vehicles per day. The company said that it is a primary artery that feeds the main suburbs in Miami such as Coral Gables, West Miami, South Miami, Westchester, and Kendall. In addition to the Miami location, Liberty plans to open 3 more dispensaries this month with more to come in 2019, all subject to the receipt of the Florida Department of Health approvals.

“Liberty remains committed to ensuring that its premium quality medical marijuana products and educational services are accessible to the more than 2.7 million people who call South Florida home,” said George Scorsis, CEO of Liberty Health Sciences. “When people come to our dispensaries, they know they will find the highest quality medicinal cannabis. They also trust that they are going to have access to the best brands in any category, including PAX and Mary’s Medicinals products.

Debra BorchardtOctober 18, 2018

iAnthus Capital Holdings, Inc. (OTCQX: ITHUF) agreed to acquire MPX Bioceutical Corporation (OTC:MPXEF) in an all-stock transaction with offered equity consideration to MPX shareholders valued at C$835 million The agreement represents the first public to public merger transaction in U.S. cannabis history.

“This is a watershed moment for iAnthus, as we nearly double the size of our national footprint in the United States. iAnthus will be uniquely positioned for success on the U.S. East Coast, while solidifying our cultivation and retail presence with the additions of California, Nevada, Maryland and Arizona,” said Hadley Ford, CEO of iAnthus. “Since its inception, iAnthus has been strategically focused on building scale, and this announcement crystallizes our positioning as one of the largest multi-state operators in North America.”

MPX shareholders will receive 0.1673 common shares of iAnthus for each common share of MPX held or approximately C$1.28 per MPX common share, a premium of 30.6% based on the closing price of iAnthus and MPX common shares on October 17, 2018. In addition, each MPX shareholder will receive common shares of the newly formed MPX International which will hold all of the non-U.S. businesses of MPX. MPX International will apply to list on the Canadian Securities Exchange with the listing to occur contemporaneously with closing of the transaction.

The combined company, excluding MPX International, will include operations and cannabis licenses in 10 states that will permit iAnthus to operate 56 retail locations and 14 cultivation/processing facilities. As a result of the transaction, iAnthus will add retail and/or production capabilities in Arizona, Maryland, Nevada, California and Massachusetts. These additional licenses complement iAnthus’ existing assets in New York, Florida, Massachusetts, Vermont, Colorado, and New Mexico, forming super-regional footprints in both the eastern and western United States.

“MPX is committed to providing the strongest value possible to our shareholders, and we feel that working with a best-in-class operator like iAnthus provides us with the best opportunity to achieve that goal,” said Scott Boyes, Chief Executive Officer of MPX. “The nascent U.S. cannabis market is still in a land-grab phase, and we feel that our footprint when combined with iAnthus, provides our investors with the strongest possible exposure to this explosive marketplace.”