Ascend Wellness Holdings Inc. (AWH), a multistate, vertically integrated cannabis operator, filed an amended complaint against MedMed Enterprises Inc. and a motion to dismiss “baseless counterclaims” on Feb. 14 in New York. The filings are the latest in Ascend’s legal battle with MedMen, which stems from a roughly $73-million definitive investment agreement between the two companies on Feb. 25, 2021. Under the signed agreement, Ascend was to acquire 86.7% interest in MedMen NY Inc. (MMNY), MedMen’s subsidiary in New York, through investing $35 million in cash and issuing a senior secured promissory note in favor of MMNY’s senior secured lender in the principal amount of $28 million. In addition, Ascend held an option to acquire the remaining equity in MedMen’s New York operation through an additional investment of $10 million, which also was intended to be used to repay MMNY’s senior secured lender if adult-use cannabis sales commence in MMNY’s dispensaries, according to a February 2021 AWH press release. Ascend would have acquired one of New York’s 10 licenses to distribute medical cannabis through the transaction.
Posted Melissa Schiller, Cannabis Business Times, 02/15/2022 17:32:00