AYR Wellness (CSE: AYR.A) has finalised the transfer of its Florida, New Jersey and Nevada cannabis operations to Arboretum Bidco LLC, bringing the state-by-state handover of assets to a close in what amounts to the largest restructuring in multi-state operator (MSO) history.
Yesterday’s closing covers more than 60 dispensaries in Florida, one of the largest vertically integrated medical-cannabis retail networks in the state, alongside three New Jersey locations and six Nevada stores, all operating under the AYR dispensaries brand.
This is the latest development in a collapse years in the making. At its 2021 peak, AYR was trading above $40 per share and expanding aggressively across limited-licence states.
By early 2025, the company had roughly $410m in total debt, with quarterly interest payments of around $20m and cash reserves of just $35.5m. Similarly, though not uniquely, its stock had lost more than 99% of its value.
Following years of financial deterioration, mounting debt obligations, consistent management turnover and an eventual failure to file its Q1 2025 financials, the company entered a Restructuring Support Agreement with its senior noteholders on 30 July 2025.
This RSA with creditors who held its senior secured debt was funded by a $50m bridging loan at 14% interest to keep operations running. In October 2025, those lenders exercised their legal right under US commercial law to seize and sell the assets securing their loans, a process known as an Article 9 sale, with a public auction held on 10 November 2025.
The lenders submitted a bid using their own debt as currency, effectively swapping what they were owed for ownership of the underlying business. No outside cash buyer emerged.
The acquiring vehicle, Arboretum Investments LLC, was established by those same senior lenders specifically to receive the assets.
Arboretum assumed operations across seven states: Florida, New Jersey, Nevada, Ohio, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Virginia completed its transfer to a subsidiary, Arboretum Virginia LLC, in April 2026, the same month Arboretum closed a $275m refinancing package to fund ongoing operations across the inherited estate.
Arboretum intends to continue trading the acquired assets under the ‘Ayr Wellness’ name, preserving the consumer-facing brand even as the Canadian-listed parent entity moves toward full dissolution.
Parallel insolvency proceedings in the Supreme Court of British Columbia, covering the wind-down of AYR’s Canadian-registered holding company, continue, with remaining asset disposals and final creditor distributions still to be completed. Common shareholders will receive nothing.
