Here’s their press release on the $US2.1 billion deal that has everybody sitting up this week
DLA Piper and Fox Rothschild are spearheading Trulieve Cannabis Corp’s $2.1 billion stock purchase of medical cannabis company Harvest Health & Recreation Inc, a mega-deal that will create the largest marijuana company by revenue in the United States.
News of the deal comes as U.S. states move to legalize the recreational use of cannibas and as consumer appetite for marijuana products has increased since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The acquisition, announced on Monday, will enable U.S.-based Trulieve to strengthen its presence in the Northeast and Southeast.
The DLA Piper team advising Trulieve on Canadian law is led by corporate partners Russel Drew and Derek Sigel, co-chair of the firm’s Canadian capital markets group.
The firm has represented Trulieve in several transactions since it went public in Canada in 2018, Sigel and Drew told Reuters on Monday.
Drew said that Trulieve was among a flood of marijuana companies that have completed public listings and acquisitions in Canada, which legalized cannabis in 2018.
DLA Piper has worked on a handful of cannabis transactions in recent months, including representing Canadian pot producer Aphria Inc in its reverse takeover of rival Tilray Inc.
The Fox Rothschild team advising Trulieve on U.S. law is led by corporate partner Sean Coyle. Assisting with the deal are Joshua Ashby, also a partner in the corporate practice; securities partner Patrick Pazderka and Joshua Horn, who co-chairs the firm’s cannabis law practice.
It’s not the first time Trulieve has turned to Fox Rothschild for guidance.
The firm advised Trulieve in connection with its $6 million purchase of Mountaineer Holding LLC and $60 million purchase of Keystone Shops.
On the other side of the tie-up, representing Arizona-based Harvest Health, are Bennett Jones and Troutman Pepper.
The Bennett Jones lawyers working on the deal include partner Sander Grieve, who heads the firm’s mining industry team and corporate department co-head and partner Linda Misetich Dann.
Trulieve’s financial advisor is Canaccord Genuity Corp, and Harvest’s is Moelis & Co LLC.
The deal will give Trulieve a foothold in Florida, Pennsylvania and Maryland, and in core markets like Arizona, which voted to make recreational pot legal in November 2020.
The resulting enterprise will boast 126 dispensaries across 11 U.S. States.
Harvest shareholders will get 0.1170 of a Trulieve voting share for each Harvest subordinate voting share held, according to the press release.
Harvest’s shareholders are expected to vote on the deal in the third quarter.
