Faced with a turbulent market, continually plummeting prices amid widespread inflation and long-term uncertainty, two craft companies (East Fork Cultivars and Peak Extracts) decided to merge to benefit from each other’s strengths while gaining major cost and operational savings, among other advantages. East Fork acquired Peak in late 2022, and many other small and mid-sized businesses can benefit from this uncommon story.
In this candid session, East Fork CEO Mason Walker will share how the merger enabled both companies to reduce overhead by sharing costs for compliance, insurance, payroll, legal and other administrative and professional services, which come at a premium for cannabis companies. As Cannabis Business Times reported, “[Katie] Stem, [founder of Peak Extracts,] and Walker estimate these costs together run each company about $200,000 each per year—including $13,000 in adult-use licensing fees, $10,000 in hemp licensing fees and $14,000 in banking fees to carry checking accounts for each entity. They estimate these costs eventually will be cut by at least 40% with the merger.”
Walker will also share the details of the entire process, from finding the right partner to setting deal terms to the cost and logistics of merging the company (legal fees, regulatory approval process, etc.) and important lessons he learned along the way. Attendees will take away a deep understanding of the M&A deal and whether a similar arrangement would be a viable opportunity to breathe new life into their businesses.
