Mercer Park Brand Acquisition Corp. (NEO: BRND.A.U; OTCQX: MRCQF; “BRND” or the “Company”), a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) which has entered into a definitive agreement to merge (the “Glass House Group Transaction”) with GH Group, Inc. (“GH Group”), California’s leading fully-integrated cannabis business, is updating the status of its proposed merger with GH Group.
To facilitate the closing of the Glass House Group Transaction, the holders of the Company’s class A restricted voting shares have approved an extension of the Company’s permitted timeline to complete a qualifying transaction to July 30, 2021 (the “Extension”). The Company’s board of directors has also approved the Extension, which is effective as of May 13, 2021. After processing notices of redemption received with respect to the Extension, BRND expects that immediately prior to the closing of the Glass House Group Transaction it will have an aggregate of approximately US$266 million (assuming no additional redemptions and including the previously announced private placement expected to close concurrently with the Glass House Transaction) to fund its growth strategy and pay transaction expenses.
22,406,149 class A restricted voting shares were redeemed in connection with the Extension.
As previously announced, the Company and GH Group announced a business combination to create the largest cannabis brand-building platform in California, the world’s largest cannabis market.
GH Group will support its existing and future portfolio of brands with unmatched capacity and distribution in the state. The combined company has planned expansions to reach 6 million ft2 of cultivation in state-of-the-art greenhouses, representing by far the largest capacity of any cannabis operator in California and an anticipated retail footprint of 21 operational dispensaries by Q1 2022, more than double the next largest retail operator in the state.
“We view successful cannabis brand-building as a combination of four factors: the ability to control quality biomass at a large scale; produce at the most competitive costs; offer the highest quality products; and deliver the best value proposition to consumers. Glass House has a track record of excellence across all four of these drivers. Combined with the proposed combination with the Southern California Greenhouse asset and 17 proposed Element 7 retail licenses, Glass House Group is poised to become the largest, vertically integrated brand-building platform in California, the world’s largest cannabis market,” said BRND Chairman Jonathan Sandelman.
Commenting on the transaction, Glass House’s co-founder and CEO, Kyle Kazan, stated: “We have established a strong retail and wholesale network and best-in-class cultivation processes, all anchored by a scaled and highly efficient cost structure. I am incredibly proud of the robust operation we have built over the past five years, and we look forward to augmenting these strengths to further capitalize on the growing statewide and national CPG opportunity.”
