High Times To Postpone IPO For 3 More Months

The U.S Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has told High Times that the cannabis publisher, and burgeoning dispensary brand, must halt accepting investments in its initial public offering.

The company, currently under the helm of CEO Peter Horvath, missed a June 12 deadline to report its audited results.

According to securities attorneys Stephen Weiss and Megan Penick of Los Angeles law firm Michelman & Robinson LLP, High Times must make all reports for investors publicly available in order to accept traditional sales.

The company chose to extend the date of its IPO from July 30, 2020 to Sept. 30, 2020.

Alan Brochstein, a cannabis analyst from New Cannabis Ventures, stated that “High Times extended Reg A offering is just a fleecing of main street investors.”

High Times received intended to go public under the ticker “HTHC.” Throughout the process, it has changed CEOs three times within one calendar year.

Horvath took over for Stormy Simon in May. Simon took over as CEO from Kraig Fox last January. Fox was hired in April 2019.

During that time, High Times has delved into the retail space via several acquisitions.

The company currently has over 25,000 shareholders. 

"The SEC may have softened up in the Covid crisis but previously, both sales and offers were supposed to stop during such time as the issuer was delinquent in its filings, because there is no exemption under Reg A  for 'offers' while a company is delinquent," Securities attorney Sara Hanks told Cannabis Law Report.

High Times was sold to Los Angeles-based Oreva Capital in 2017 for $70 million.