Wednesday was a busy day for Harvest Health & Recreation (HRVSF). The vertically-integrated cannabis company announced in a press release that it had agreed to acquire a peer, and also announced the departure of Executive Chairman Jason Vedadi.
Harvest will purchase Interurban Capital Group, owner of the Have a Heart dispensary chain, for roughly $85.8 million in cash and stock -- a slightly higher price than had been anticipated when Harvest first indicated it was in talks with the company back in January.
Have a Heart's 10 dispensaries are located in Washington, California, and Iowa; its website says that another six are "coming soon."
The deal is subject to approval from the relevant regulators.
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With Vedadi vacating his role as executive chairman, he is also relinquishing his seat on the board of directors. CEO Steve White will "assume full leadership for the executive team," according to the company, and board member Mark Barnard will ascend to the chairman position. Barnard, a consumer goods sector veteran, was an independent board member.
Meanwhile, Vedadi will make himself available to the cannabis company in an advisory capacity.
"With the closing of this financing and the additional strength of ICG's management team, Harvest is well-positioned to take the next steps in its development," Vedadi said in the press release announcing the acquisition and his departure.
Investors did not react well to these news items. On a generally ugly day for the wider stock market -- the S&P 500 closed down by almost 5% -- Harvest's shares fell considerably further, almost 31%.
