Ayr Strategies To Purchase Liberty Health Sciences For $290M, Debuts In New Jersey With Garden State Dispensary Deal

Vertically integrated cannabis company Ayr Strategies AYR AYRWF said Tuesday it seeks to acquire the Florida-based Liberty Health Sciences LHS LHSIF in a $290-million stock-for-stock transaction.

With the deal, Liberty shareholders will obtain roughly 13.1 million new Ayr shares, or 0.03683 Ayr shares for each Liberty share.

In addition, Ayr said it will acquire Liberty's Gainesville-based cultivation campus, which spans 387 acres, over 300,000 square feet of production facilities, 28 operating dispensaries and seven ready-to-open dispensaries, as well as seven more in the build-out phase.

Ayr's New Jersey Acquisition: The Toronto-based company confirmed it's purchasing the membership interests in the New Jersey-based operator Garden State Dispensary NJ LLC for an upfront payment of $101 million.

Pursuant to the deal,  Ayr will obtain three open dispensaries, as well as cultivation and production facilities spanning 30,000 square feet, with an additional 75,000 square feet under construction. 

The purchase is comprised of $41 million in cash, $30 million in stock, and $30 million in the form of a promissory note, the company said.

"Our strategy has always been to go deep in the best markets, targeting attractive assets in limited-license states with large populations, where we can build a vertically integrated presence and have a significant edge," Ayr's Chairman and CEO Jonathan Sandelman said in a statement.

"2021 will be a year of material growth for Ayr in the adult-use market," he said. 

Ayr inked a definitive merger agreement with Parma Wellness Center LLC's management company on Friday. The $17-million deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2021.