Shira Schoenberg
The Cannabis Control Commission on Thursday approved the state’s first acquisition of a marijuana company.
The commission approved the sale of Sira Naturals to Cannabis Strategies Acquisition Corp.
Sira Naturals owns three medical marijuana dispensaries, in Cambridge, Somerville and Needham. It has secured licenses to cultivate, manufacture and transport marijuana for the recreational market.
Cannabis Strategies Acquisition Corp., a publicly traded company in Canada, announced in October that it had an agreement to buy Sira Naturals along with three Nevada-based marijuana companies and one company that operates in Nevada and Colorado.
The Cannabis Control Commission took up the request for a change of ownership at its meeting a week ago, but delayed voting in order to request more documents related to ownership, control and cap limitations.
The concerns came after news outlets reported that some large companies are trying to get around state-imposed caps on how many licenses a corporation can own by executing management agreements with multiple companies that own marijuana stores. Massachusetts marijuana regulators scrutinizing proposed acquisitions. The Cannabis Control Commission delayed voting on the proposed acquisition of Sira Naturals in order to ask for more documents.
Patrick Beyea, director of investigations at the Cannabis Control Commission, said he had received several additional documents, and they did not change his recommendation to approve the sale.
Cannabis Control Commission Chairman Steven Hoffman said regulators are looking to track who holds equity in the company and who maintains control of the company when there are multiple corporate layers involved to make sure no entity violates the state caps. Other proposed acquisitions are still awaiting consideration by the commission.
