Marijuana Business Magazine September 2018

A New Name for Kush Kush Bottles in Santa Ana, California, is changing its name to KushCo Holdings to emphasize its diverse prod- ucts and services, effective Sept. 1. The company serves more than 5,000 dispensaries, growers and produc- ers around the world. Kush Bottles will be one business unit under the KushCo Holdings umbrella. Kush recently acquired The Hybrid Creative and its parent company, Zack Darling Creative Associates , which will serve as divisions of KushCo Holdings. If You Build It, Acreage Holdings Will Come Acreage Holdings , a verti- cally integrated, multistate marijuana company based in New York, is investing $10 million in an indoor cultivation facility in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Acreage, which has marijuana operations in 12 other states, will operate in the Hawkeye State under the name Iowa Relief . The move is garnering attention due to strict state regulations that cap MMJ products at just 3% THC. Terra Tech Sells Las Vegas Retail Shop Terra Tech , based in Irvine, Cali- fornia, sold a 3,900-square-foot retail shop just north of the Las Vegas Strip to Exhale Brands Nevada for $6.25 million. Terra Tech, which opened the facility in 2015, retains ownership of three other retail shops in Nevada, including two in Las Vegas. The company has said it will use profits from the sale to fund growth of the business, which is awaiting approval to open an extraction lab in Reno, Nevada. Florida Starts Food Inspections Atlanta-based Surterra Wellness resumed operations in Florida after being forced by the state to halt production and pass food-safety inspections. The company, which has eight dispensaries and two processing facilities in Florida, was the second business forced by the state to halt processing operations temporarily to meet the food-safety inspection deadline. The Florida Department of Health is requiring processors to pass a food- safety inspection within their first year of operation. Surterra has a third processing plant that is still under construction. 4Front Holdings Nabs $13.4 Million Multistate marijuana retailer and producer 4Front Holdings is charting a path to go public after a funding round closed in July that raised $13.4 mil- lion. The Phoenix company plans to list on the Canadian Securities Exchange by the fourth quarter of 2018. Stem Goes North to Trade Shares Stem Holdings of Boca Raton, Florida, a cannabis industry real estate company, started trading on the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE). The company acquires and overhauls facilities to meet the needs of can- nabis businesses. Stem plans to use capital garnered from its CSE listing to expand the company, which already holds cultivation and retail licenses in Nevada and Oregon. Stem also has developed several cannabis brands and part- nered with several companies such as TJ’s Gardens . CANADIAN DEVELOPMENTS Molson Coors Bets on Cannabis Molson Coors Brewing Co . is forming a joint venture with Quebec-based licensed producer The Hydro- pothecary Corp. to develop nonalcoholic, cannabis- infused beverages for the Canadian market following legalization. Molson Coors Canada will have a 57.5% controlling interest in the joint venture, and Hydropoth- ecary will control the rest. The deal is the latest signal that brewers are concerned legal recreational marijuana will cut into their profits. Some analysts noted the deal does not involve Molson investing directly in Hydropothecary. As part of the agreement, Molson has the option to take a 5% ownership stake in the Quebec cultivator if Hydropoth- ecary’s stock hits $4.61 (CA$6). Cronos, New Partner Will Build Ontario Greenhouse Cronos Group in Toronto entered a joint partnership with Greenhouse Partners to create Cronos GrowCo . The new company plans to develop and operate an 850,000-square-foot cannabis greenhouse on 100 acres in Kingsville, Ontario. Construction on the facility will begin this year; once operational, the facility is expected to produce 70,000 kilograms (154,000 pounds) of cannabis per year. September 2018 • Marijuana Business Magazine • 109