Experts Discuss Future Of Cannabis M&As At Benzinga Cannabis Conference In Florida
The panel “Who’s Winning In M&A? East Coast vs. West Coast (The Biggie-2Pac Dilemma)” took place at the Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference in Florida, where industry experts shared their forecasts about trends in marijuana M&As.
Scott Greiper, CEO and founder of Viridian Capital, presented hard data. The Viridian Cannabis Deals Tracker, which has been monitoring the topic for nine years, indicates that the cannabis industry has not yet recovered to its highest level of M&A activity seen in 2021, in terms of both the number of transactions and their dollar value. However, the first quarter of 2024 is heating up, with the average deal size reaching a yearly high of $20 million. Multi-state operators (MSOs) are the most aggressive buyers. M&A activities are on the rise due to improved performance of stock prices in a market rallying on the hope of cannabis rescheduling.
The Viridian M&A tracker has shown that major regulatory announcements have significantly impacted value. However, Greiper said there is still an upside for the industry and consolidation is expected to achieve size and scale if the industry is eventually going to resemble the alcohol or tobacco sectors.
Participants Emily Paxhia, Eric Espinoza, Dustin Milner and Robert Nederhood provided their take on the subject.
New Markets Vs. Old Markets
“We’ve lived in such a capital-deprived time that it is very hard to imagine leaning into very cash-heavy transactions at this time, especially while we are waiting for what’s happening at a federal level,” remarked Paxhia, co-founder of Poseidon Asset …