Debra Borchardt
Gotham Green Partners has invested an additional $20 million in iAnthus Capital Holdings, Inc. (CSE: IAN)(OTCQX: ITHUF) through the purchase of senior secured convertible notes. Green Gotham said it was part of a broader $100 million financing plan to support the buildout of all existing markets in which iAnthus currently operates.
iAnthus has been building its market share at a rapid pace. Over the past 16 months, Chief Operating Officer Pat Tiernan said in a statement that the company currently has 27 open dispensaries, 11 of which have opened in the last ten months and the company is aggressively working to open another 12 in the next six months. Tiernan added, “We are growing in each of our markets and are one of the only MSOs that has meaningful revenue in multiple states, including Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts and Nevada, with strong same-store sales growth across our footprint.”
“We are pleased to be working with a leading financial investor in the U.S. cannabis sector. The new notes will allow us to build out operations in our key markets and continue to develop our retail and product brands,” said Hadley Ford, CEO of iAnthus. “We believe this level of support from GGP will fully fund the development of our existing assets and provide the necessary capital for iAnthus to achieve positive and sustainable EBITDA and operational free cash flow in 2020.”
Terms
The notes have an annual coupon of 13%, payable quarterly, which will mature on May 14, 2021, subject to the iAnthus’ right to extend the maturity date by twelve months, and are exchangeable into common shares of the company at a conversion price of $1.89, which represents a 25% premium to the closing price of the common shares on Friday, September 27, 2019. The notes are being issued with $10 million of attached three-year warrants with an exercise price of $1.97. Any additional notes will have substantially the same terms, including conversion price and warrant coverage, subject to compliance with the policies of the CSE. The note purchase agreement provides GGP the right to purchase additional notes of up to $66.5 million for a total of $86.5 million. The company may obtain an additional $13.5 million from potential financing sources, including GGP or others, to fulfill its $100.0 million plan, with any such additional financing subject to the negotiation of pricing, terms, and conditions in the context of the market.
“We have viewed iAnthus as a key partner since our initial investment in May 2018 and have closely watched the Company’s evolution as it has continued to execute on its operational strategy across multiple markets. The Company has made significant strides in broadening and operationalizing its footprint, which we do not believe is reflected in the Company’s current trading price,” said Jason Adler, Managing Member of Gotham Green Partners. “We look forward to working alongside iAnthus and continuing to support the growth of the Company.”
