The Chicago Tribune reports that Cresco Labs plans to acquire Canadian cannabis distributor Origin House to the tune of approximately $850 million. It is the second high-profile acquisition involving a Chicagoland cannabis company in recent weeks, with Verano being acquired by Harvest for $850 million in an all-stock deal on March 15. However, that Verano deal was Harvest doing the acquiring. Cresco’s purchase of Origin House marks the largest acquisition by a Chicago company in the cannabis space.

Cresco Labs Won’t Be Ignored

Devotees of the MMLG blog will recall our post explaining that Chicago canna-companies would be a major player in 2019. A quarter of the way through the year and we’re looking like Nostra-frickin’-damus, folks. The Midwest, between Missouri’s medical, Michigan’s legalization, and Illinois, is taking off and Cresco Labs is in the thick of it.

While the Verano-Harvest deal rightfully made some major waves at the time, Cresco Labs quietly and simultaneously entered the Florida medical market with an acquisition of their own. Cresco’s $120 million acquisition of VidaCann would have made noise of its own most weeks, but the timing, between Verano-Harvest and MedMen’s own splashy fundraising, muted that noise.

Now with the VidaCann and Origin House purchases? Cresco Labs is making noise that can’t be ignored. After the deal officially closes some time in Junie, the company will be in more than 725 dispensaries across the country. The Origin House purchase gives Cresco an unbelievable breadth of coverage by state, with this deal giving them a huge amount of access and distribution throughout California. Cresco’s soon-to-be footprint in California stretches their distribution from the Atlantic to the Pacific, with dispensaries or distribution infrastructure throughout some of the most populous legalized states including Pennsylvania, Florida, California and, of course, Illinois.

Cresco Labs’s Acquisition Is Another Sign That Banking Reform Is Urgently Needed

With the SAFE bill making headlines last week, now is as good a time as any to remind everyone of the utility in reforming banking regulations around the plant-touching industry. Cresco Labs’s acquisition of a Canadian company, mind you in an all-stock acquisition, is a strong sign that U.S. companies aren’t going to just sit idly by while Canadian behemoths buy up everyone. This acquisition/land grab mentality is swinging both ways and Cresco is proof that American companies are swinging for the fences whether the rules have been updated or not.