Curaleaf, the undisputed heavyweight champion of the cannabis world, is currently experiencing the corporate equivalent of being left on read. For months, the $2.6 billion behemoth has been trying to forcefully court Aurora Cannabis, initially lobbing a rather hostile $272 million takeover bid back in August. Aurora’s board effectively swiped left, prompting the Connecticut-based giant to come crawling back in early October with a 25 percent higher offer. But just when Curaleaf thought its deep pockets would inevitably win the day, in struts Organigram. With a market cap of merely $200 million, the plucky Canadian producer just crashed the hostile takeover party, and to put it mildly, Curaleaf is absolutely losing its mind.
Organigram isn’t flying completely solo, though, as it happens to be backed by the delightfully deep and smoky pockets of British American Tobacco. According to reports, Aurora is actually entertaining talks with this smaller suitor, leading Curaleaf to release a spectacularly dramatic public statement declaring itself “outraged” and “appalled” by the betrayal. You can practically hear the Curaleaf executives furiously drafting their grievances, absolutely bewildered that a tiny competitor is getting an inside look at Aurora’s books while they are stuck pacing out in the hallway. They even tried appealing to Aurora’s shareholders directly, basically asking why anyone would want to date the underdog when the richest guy in school is standing right there waving a fistful of cash.
The reason for all this high-stakes desperation is simple: Europe. Aurora happens to be sitting on more than 50 tons of EU-GMP cultivation and manufacturing capacity, which is essentially the golden ticket to dominating rapidly expanding markets like Germany. Curaleaf desperately needs that European foothold to cement its global empire, but instead, it might be forced to either drastically overpay or storm off in a huff before its current bid expires on December 4th. Until then, we get a front-row seat to watch the largest weed company in the world pitch a fit because it turns out billions of dollars can’t automatically buy you a seat at the cool kids’ table.
Dabbin-Dad Newsroom
