Things are moving, in the high end of cannabis. Gage, licensee to sell Cookies products and rapper Wiz Khalifa’s Khalifa Kush, changes hands. The Canadian TerrAscend buys all the shares of the Michigan company for $ 545 million. The transaction must now be validated by the Canadian financial authorities, since the two companies are listed on the Canadian Stock Exchange in Toronto.
A nice little sum… for a little nugget. Gage is number one in cannabis in Michigan, the third largest US market which weighs $ 2 billion per year. “We look forward to being able to use the deep bond that unites Gage with Michigan consumers”, rubs his hands Jason Wild, the boss of TerrAscend, in a statement.
Another reason to take out the checkbook: Gage has an exclusive license to be the only one to sell internationally recognized brands in Michigan. This is the case with the Cookies family, which includes Gelato, Girl Scout Cookies, or Cherry Pie. But also Khalifa Kush, the brand of Ambassador Wiz Khalifa. Gage also has a very nice genetics catalog, which TerrAscend can now consult.
Gage is for potheads
TerrAscend is also getting its hands on a top-of-the-range competitor, but in a different vein. The Canadian is rather positioned on dispensaries and their senior customers (with the brand The Apothecarium), and followers of natural products. Gage is more for potheads, those connoisseurs who want the best products.
Moreover, the prices are affected. Its cannabis flowers are on average 40% more expensive than the competition in Michigan. A difference fully assumed, which can also be explained by the high quality (and the high purchase price) of the products sold.
The new company TerrAscend-Gage (which we do not know if it will change its name) will therefore be based on a network of 23 stores in four American states (California, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania), hoping to expand soon to 34 establishments. The group will also have an extensive cannabis production network, as it will have 7 different sites, in the United States and Canada.
