$850 million acquisition of Chicago marijuana company Verano Holdings called off

An $850 million deal to buy Verano Holdings has been terminated, marking the second high-dollar acquisition of a Chicago marijuana company to fall through in less than a year.

Phoenix-based Harvest Health & Recreation announced it planned buy Verano Holdings just over a year ago. The deal would have given Harvest the right to operate Verano’s cultivation facility and dispensaries in Illinois, plus its operations in other states.

The Illinois operations would have been a big win for Harvest. Recreational sales started in the state Jan. 1 and in the first two months, customers spent more than $74.2 million on legal weed.

The deal was called off in part because of delays caused by regulatory hurdles and adverse conditions in the capital markets.

“Now with the COVID-19 pandemic often being dealt with in the very agencies that must approve the transaction, it has become clear that this combination would not be completed within the established time frame,” Verano CEO George Archos said in a statement. “We look forward to continuing to grow our operations as one of the largest privately held multistate operators in the U.S.” [Read more at Chicago Tribune]