Yesterday a major special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger announcement made some exciting news in cannabis. The Nasdaq-listed SPAC agreed to merge with four different US cannabis companies that are growing, processing and selling state-legal cannabis, with an over $200 million value. But the SPAC...
On August 26, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission approved allowing the New York Stock Exchange to permit "direct listings" of newly public companies. The Nasdaq has had this ability for several years- companies like Spotify took advantage of this alternative method of going public....
Originally pioneered in the 1990s, special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, have gone in and out of Wall Street favor since. Currently enjoying a renaissance, SPACs are public companies that raise money then seek a private business that wishes to go public and access the...
The last few months have witnessed a number of dramatic developments for American companies seeking capital in the fast-growing cannabis industry. In total, these changes portend greater access to funding for these companies. Here is more on these notable deals. (Note: none of the companies...
Last month, the Nasdaq quietly submitted a proposal to the SEC regarding Regulation A+. It is simple enough to quote: "Any Company listing on Nasdaq in connection with an offering under Regulation A of the Securities Act of 1933 must, at the time of approval...
Get the holiday theme? It hit me on the way to work. There seem to be two camps with views on how Regulation A+ is doing now that it has been over two years since the dismissal of two states' attempt to stop the new...
In a HUGE announcement last week, Nasdaq, Inc., the parent company of the various stock exchanges bearing that name, decided the exchanges should no longer be called NASDAQ. Instead they are "re-branding" as just plain Nasdaq, ie initial cap then lower case. Why? Well, the name...
The Regulation A+ rules adopted by the SEC in 2015 included scaled reporting obligations to assist in reducing issuers' offering costs as against a traditional IPO. However, if a company is seeking to become a full Securities Exchange Act reporting company, which is required if...
Innovative Industrial Properties Inc. is planning to be a real estate investment trust. Its mission, as disclosed in its SEC filing last week for its planned IPO, is to be "focused on the acquisition, ownership and management of specialized industrial properties leased to experienced, state-licensed...
In a significant but not entirely unexpected or surprising blow to the cannabis industry, the Nasdaq stock market has decided to reject the attempt by MassRoots, a social networking site for cannabis enthusiasts, to list on their exchange. The reason: because they may be deemed to...