Scotts Invests $250M and Buys a NY Cannabis License

Consolidation of the cannabis industry is inevitable as the market matures.

Heading into 2022, numerous forecasts predicted another flurry of M&A activity after an energized 2021. With nearly three months of the year complete, opinions are split on M&A activity so far.

A Canadian investment firm bankrolled by a unit of lawn and garden giant Scotts Miracle-Gro agreed to purchase New York-based marijuana company Etain Health for $247 million.

Toronto-based RIV Capital (OTC: CNPOF) said it signed an agreement to buy the female- and family-owned vertically integrated medical marijuana operator for cash and stock.

The transaction is believed to be the largest involving a female-owned business in the cannabis industry and gives RIV Capital – and, indirectly, Scotts Miracle-Gro – the opportunity to capitalize on the upcoming launch of New York’s adult-use marijuana market.

Etain, one of New York’s original five MMJ operators, has four dispensaries in the state, including a flagship store in Manhattan, and is in the process of expanding its cultivation and production facility in Chestertown.

The company was the only independent remaining among New York’s now 10 medical cannabis businesses. The other nine are multistate operators.

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