BLACK OWNED
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs new company will be the largest Black owned cannabis operator
Leafly reports that Cresco Labs and Columbia Care assets in New York and Illinois will pass to hip-Hop and business mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs for a reported $185 million.
Combs’ new company will be the world’s largest Black cannabis operator, as well as America’s first minority-owned, vertically-integrated cannabis operation. The transaction is dependent on Cresco’s acquisition of Columbia Care completing.
The publication highlights that the development will see Diddy join other “musicians-turned-moguls” including JAY-Z, Wiz Khalifa, and Cookies CEO Berner in the legal cannabis industry.
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BUY LEGAL
U.S. Cannabis Council launches ‘Buy Legal’ campaign
The U.S. Cannabis Council has launched a “Buy Legal” advertising campaign to encourage consumers to purchase cannabis products from regulated, legal sources, reports Ganjapreneur.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy (D) and former National Basketball Association player and founder and CEO of Viola, Al Harrington, will feature in the campaign that was launched at the Black CannaBiz Expo in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Harrington stated: “To truly create equitable opportunities for generational wealth in our community, things like this must be done. Now more than ever it’s imperative to educate consumers on the importance of buying regulated, safe products.”
EQUITY CREDIT
Canadian company Heritage Cannabis to raise up to US$20M
Heritage Cannabis Holdings Corp. is raising up to $20 million from Obsidian Global Partners, reports MJ Biz Daily. The company has stated that it will use the proceeds of the equity line of credit for general corporate purposes and expenses of the offering.
Under the agreement:
- Heritage will pay Obsidian a $300,000 initial fee using common shares that will be locked up for four months plus a day.
- Heritage will also pay another $300,000 fee in cash or shares after drawing $10,000,000 under the equity financing agreement.
- Obsidian will not be issued shares that would result in the New York-headquartered company owning more than 9.99% of Heritage’s shares.
FRESH FUNDING
Portuguese contract manufacturing company Atann says fresh funding will allow it to “realize its mission statement”
Atann has been granted its Good Agricultural and Collection Practice license, enabling it to begin supplying cannabis clones to licensed cultivators, report BusinessCann.
The company will now embark on a new R&D project with Lisbon University and has commissioned an inhouse laboratory for indicative testing for Portuguese cultivators. Atann’s CEO Edward Duffy said the company can now focus on “realizing its mission statement”.
According to the publication, the company is also expectation the completion of inspections for both its GDP and GMP licences, which will enable the expansion of its operations.
“There’s an exciting new R&D collaboration with Lisbon universities that we’ve started. We mainly want to focus on creating novel formulations for medicines and that’s what the projects are going to be based around. We’ve signed up a couple of universities and we’re kick-starting that project in 2023,” Duffy told BusinessCann.
