US (FL): Cansortium completes $71M debt financing

Cansortium has closed a US$71 million Senior Secured Term Loan due April 29, 2025 (the "Term Loan") with a syndicate led by U.S.-based institutional lenders.

"Today marks a new beginning for Cansortium as we now have the financial flexibility and liquidity that the Company needs to continue growing its attractive asset base," said Chief Executive Officer Robert Beasley. "Proceeds from the Term Loan have been used to satisfy substantially all of the Company's existing indebtedness, including repaying $27.1 million of convertible debentures due in May. These actions have resulted in more than $40 million of cash being added to our balance sheet from the Term Loan and the equity offering completed earlier this month. With a strengthened balance sheet and simplified capital structure, we are now firmly positioned to execute our growth and expansion initiatives in our core Florida, Pennsylvania and Michigan markets."

Neal Hochberg, Cansortium's Chairman of the Board added, "For the past two years, management and the Company's Board of Directors have worked tirelessly to right-size the Company's operations and strengthen its balance sheet. We deeply appreciate the support from many of our key stakeholders during this period, and we are excited to welcome a new group of institutional investors to the Company. By extending our debt maturities by four years and bolstering our liquidity, the Company can now focus all of its attention on maximizing value."

Mr. Beasley added, "Since taking over as CEO in September 2020, we have made dramatic improvements across key aspects of our business, particularly in Florida where we have significantly increased cultivation yields, introduced new SKUs and form-factors such as edibles, and expanded cultivation and production capacity to better supply our 24 operational dispensaries (expected to increase to 27 by year-end). Florida remains the single largest limited-license cannabis market in the U.S. and we currently have the sixth-largest footprint in the state. I am proud of our team's early accomplishments up to this point and look forward to capitalizing on the many growth opportunities ahead."

Seaport Global Securities LLC acted as lead placement agent and Canaccord Genuity Corp. acted as co-manager for the Term Loan. INFOR Financial Inc. served as financial advisor to the Company.