Glass House Brands Closes Acquisition Of Morro Bay NHC Cannabis Dispensary

Glass House Brands Inc. GLASF GHBWF GLAS GLAS, has been granted all local regulatory approvals for its acquisition of the Natural Healing Center (NHC) dispensary located in Morro Bay, California, and that the transaction has officially closed. With the closing of the Morro Bay dispensary transaction, Glass House will finish Q3 with 7 retail dispensaries.

On May 12, 2022, Glass House announced that it had executed definitive agreements to acquire 100% of the equity interests in three Natural Healing Center retail assets: two operating retail dispensaries (Lemoore and Morro Bay) and one retail dispensary (Turlock) scheduled to open in Q4 2022. This was followed by the announcement on August 11, 2022 that Glass House had entered into an agreement to buy NHC's flagship Grover Beach dispensary and by an announcement on September 7, 2022 that Glass House had closed the NHC Grover Beach and Lemoore dispensary acquisitions.

"I'd like to warmly welcome the staff at NHC Morro Bay into the Glass House family," stated Kyle Kazan, chairman and CEO of Glass House Brands. "As the grand opening of the Turlock store nears along with the closing of that transaction, I can't help but think back to the many months of due diligence and discussions with Valnette Garcia and her team which convinced me that they have built a very special retail chain. The fact that Val and I are teammates on yet another store makes the closing of the Morro Bay dispensary (the 3rd store to transfer) particularly special.”

Kazan continued, "We expect to close the acquisition of the Turlock store before the end of Q4 2022. As we stated when announcing the execution of definitive agreements for the NHC transaction, this acquisition will advance us further in our goal of becoming one of the largest retailers in the State of California, adds further support to our recently acquired PLUS edibles business and provides incremental outlets for CPG sales as the SoCal farm continues to expand its output. Given NHC's positioning in limited license markets and its strong consumer following, we are excited to be adding these 4 dispensaries to our retail portfolio. The NHC transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to Glass House on both a revenue and EBITDA basis."

Valnette Garcia, CEO of NHC stated, "I am excited to see the Morro Bay transaction finalized and look forward to sharing best practices to drive operating efficiencies, amplify purchasing bargaining power and heighten profitability, while always providing our customers with a world-class experience and the highest quality cannabis at an affordable price."

Additional NHC Transaction Details

At the close of each NHC dispensary acquisition, Glass House will be purchasing the businesses or assets of these dispensaries and will enter into a 5-year lease at each location with three renewal options for a total term of up to 20 years.

Closing of the Turlock store, the remaining NHC dispensary transaction, is contingent upon the transfer of ownership being approved by local regulators and is further subject to certain customary closing conditions for transactions of this nature, including the approval of the NEO Exchange.

Glass House expects to issue on closing a total of approximately 2.0 million new equity shares in conjunction with the closing of the Morro Bay acquisition. These shares will all be issued at $4.41 per equity share, the 25-day VWAP for Glass House Brands equity shares trading on the NEO Exchange calculated as of May 12, 2022, the date upon which definitive agreements were signed. Up to an additional 0.5 million of equity shares may be payable to the NHC sellers subject to certain contractual lock-ups and escrow holdbacks and generally will be paid out over two years if all equity shares are released after the lock-up and holdback periods expire. They are also subject to certain contractual early-release triggers.

Photo: Benzinga; Sources: courtesy of geralt, lindsayfox via Pixabay

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