Debra Borchardt
Harvest Health & Recreation Inc. (CSE: HARV)(OTCQX: HRVSF) is buying MJardin’s (OTC: MJARF) 32,000 square foot cultivation facility in Cheyenne, Nevada in a transaction valued at $35 million. Harvest Health said it was being financed by an existing Harvest lender. The company said that $30 million was funded on December 31st with the remaining $5 million to be paid when the deal is closed.
“We expect this opportunistic acquisition to support our expanding retail asset base in Nevada and afford higher margins and profitability through vertical integration with some of our pending acquisitions in the state,” said Harvest CEO Steve White. Harvest sees the deal as a way to help it reach profitability quicker. For MJardin, it had just begun making revenue on its Cheyenne property, while Colorado continues to be its biggest source of revenue.
“We are pleased with the return on our investment at Cheyenne. The proceeds from the Transaction significantly reduce our debt while strengthening our financial position towards funding our working capital requirements in 2020,” said Pat Witcher, President, and CEO of MJardin. “We are starting the new year on a stronger footing with a clear view of accomplishing our profitability targets based on all of our key assets coming online.”
In November, the company reported revenue of $7.6 million and a net loss of $3.6 million in the second quarter. At the time Witcher said, “We further reduced SG&A and have decreased those costs by 45% compared to Q2 2019. This allows us to focus on and effectively allocate resources to developing our product lines within Health Canada’s upcoming regulations around extraction, edibles, and topicals. We continue to invest in these business lines on both sides of the border. Responsible deployment of capital to maximize shareholder value remains our top priority as we grow our operational footprint with accelerated revenue growth.”
MJardin took on corporate cost-cutting measures late in the first quarter of 2019 and the company said the resulting expected annual SG&A and payroll expense run rate was expected to be approximately $12.1 million. On May 29, 2019, MJardin said it amended the terms of its existing loan with the senior lender to remove the callable feature and convert it into a term loan, this enabled MJardin to simplify the Company’s capital structure and fully focus on executing the operational plan.
