Dutch seed bank Barney’s Farm, one of the leading names in the global consumer cannabis seeds market, has backed out of a landmark merger with Sensi Seeds and US firm I Love Growing Marijuana (ILGM).
Beyond the collective heft of three of the largest and most established cannabis seed brands on the planet, this new collective promised to be the first cannabis seed company in history to go public on a major US capital market, avoiding the barriers faced by traditional ‘plant-touching’ cannabis firms.
The deal to combine was announced on stage at MJBizCon in December 2024 to considerable fanfare. However, after nearly a year of silence following its bold announcement, the deal has collapsed, with the blame placed squarely on the deal’s apparent architect, PowerPlant.
Barney’s Farm founder Derry Brett told Business of Cannabis: “While wishing our friends at Sensi & ILGM the very best, we have taken this decision to terminate the merger to protect Barney’s Farm from what has transpired to be, at best, PowerPlant’s unsuitable and speculative enterprise.
“We look forward to revealing substantial groundbreaking partnerships in the coming weeks.”
The promise vs the paper trail
Nine months on from the announcement, there have been no public closing steps, no regulatory filings in the Netherlands (available to the public), no follow-up statements from the companies involved regarding the merger, and no reference to the mid-2025 IPO.
This radio blackout was eventually broken just weeks ago on September 01, when Barney’s Farm, the senior partner in the proposed merger, issued a press release announcing its decision to walk away from a proposed merger with PowerPlant Inc.
In response to a request for clarification on the progress of its merger, and its relation to PowerPlant, Brett confirmed to Business of Cannabis that: “The vehicle and driver that put the proposed merger together is PowerPlant Inc.”
Despite not being referenced once in any of the initial merger announcements, or on any of the websites of the companies it apparently represents, PowerPlant’s website states that it ‘is uniting some of the most respected names in cannabis seeds, genetics, and cultivation’.
“Founded to proactively address the anticipated consolidation within the fragmented cannabis seed and genetics market, PowerPlant is advancing its buy-and-build strategy with the acquisitions of ILGM.com… and Sensi Seeds,” it continues.
Alongside claiming to have acquired two of the three companies involved in the merger, it also suggests it will be launching an IPO imminently, though we could find nothing publicly available to corroborate either of these claims.
We have contacted PowerPlant, Sensi Seeds, and ILGM for clarification on their stance regarding the merger and the capacity in which PowerPlant is associated with these retailers. However, only Barney’s Farm has offered a comment at the time of publication.
One thing that is crystal clear is that Brett and his company are out, placing the blame squarely on PowerPlant.
“Barney’s Farm Genetics’ termination of the transaction with PowerPlant brings to an end the proposed merger between Barney’s Farm Genetics, Sensi Seeds, and ILGM with immediate effect.
“The proposed merger was undone when PowerPlant Inc., the promoters of the merger, failed to meet their basic contractual obligations to Barney’s Farm, including failure to transfer funding by contracted deadline dates.
“We at Barney’s Farm do not know where this leaves what remains of the merger, but it would be incorrect to communicate that the merger, including Barney’s Farm, is still somehow intact. It is not.”
Regarding its plans to go public, Brett clarified that it was ‘never PowerPlant’s plan to IPO—their route was always an RTO’.
Despite the collapse of this merger, he suggested that it could be on the horizon
“Barney’s Farm—a long-time major player in the cannabis genetics and seed industry—continues building strategic partnerships with key and influential brands, and consolidating partnerships are expected to be announced shortly.
“At Barney’s Farm, we remain committed to our exciting research programmes and building and maintaining the world’s most trusted global cannabis seed bank. We look forward to revealing substantial, groundbreaking partnerships in the coming weeks.
“We at Barney’s Farm are focused on our R&D programmes, our collaborations with other like-minded breeders and experts, creating new innovative cannabis genetics. Our strategy will always be focused on delivering the highest quality products while accessing means to strengthen our market position.”
A deal to ‘change the face of the international cannabis seed market’
December 2024’s high-profile pitch promised that 2025, when the deal was initially slated to close, would be a ‘transformative year, not only for our business but for growers and cannabis connoisseurs worldwide’.
It was dubbed a ‘historic step’ by Brett, who was in line to take the role as CEO of the newly combined entity, with each company ‘operating as distinct brands under one governing umbrella, streamlining operations, sharing proprietary breeding expertise, and positioning the company to compete on a global scale’.
Marketing hyperbole aside, combining Barney’s Farm’s breeding pedigree, Sensi’s heritage library, and ILGM’s US-based ecommerce platform would have created a single dominant entity with an unparalleled wealth of genetic material.
It would also have marked a significant consolidation of one of the oldest and most influential arms of the cannabis industry, which have worked for decades to source, breed and fine-tune the genetics on which today’s industry is built upon.
Each of the company’s leaders appeared to throw their weight behind this new consolidation effort, billed as a precursor to take the new company public in the US by ‘mid-2025’.
With the combined integration of the trio’s production facilities and distribution networks, ‘substantial economies of scale’ were predicted, with capital from its landmark IPO earmarked for preparing the company to capitalise on the increasing number of regions opening their doors to cannabis cultivation.
