McGuireWoods Advises Cronos Group on Strategic Investment in PharmaCann

August 30, 2021

McGuireWoods advised Cronos Group on the $110.4 million purchase of an option to acquire an ownership stake of about 10.5 percent in multistate cannabis company PharmaCann Inc. The option exercise will be based upon various factors, including the status of U.S. federal cannabis legalization, as well as regulatory approvals.

McGuireWoods partners Thomas DeSplinter and Kate Hardey and associates Royce DuBiner and Tim Loveland represented Cronos Group. The team was assisted by associates Kristen Chang, Ashley Monzel, Brian King and Kelly Bauer.

The portfolio of Cronos Group — a Canada-based, publicly traded cannabinoid company with international production and distribution across five continents — includes a global wellness platform, adult-use brands and U.S. cannabidiol (CBD) brands. The company is committed to building groundbreaking intellectual property by advancing cannabis research, technology and product development.

PharmaCann is one of the nation’s largest privately held and vertically integrated cannabis companies, providing safe, reliable and high-quality products to the medical and adult-use markets. PharmaCann has six production facilities and 23 dispensaries operating across six limited license states: Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

“We were proud to assist Cronos Group in this investment, which will help build its portfolio of iconic cannabis-related brands,” said Hardey, who co-hosts McGuireWoods’ “Edible Bites” video webinar series with DuBiner.

McGuireWoods works at the cutting edge of cannabis-related legal and regulatory issues, helping shape the future of the cannabis industry in the United States. Hardey and DuBiner focus their legal practices on regulatory and transaction work on cannabis, CBD and other aspects of the food and drug industry.

McGuireWoods consistently ranks among the leaders in U.S. and global M&A deals – including private equity transactions – in league tables published by Bloomberg and Refinitiv. The firm was recently rated a “powerhouse” for private company and straightforward M&A deals in a report published by BTI Consulting Group.