EXCLUSIVE: Unrivaled Brands To Acquire People's First Choice In $60M Deal, Expands California Cannabis Retail Footprint

Unrivaled Brands, Inc., UNRV, a multi-state cannabis company, on Monday said it has executed a definitive agreement to acquire People’s First Choice, which operates an existing dispensary in Santa Ana, California, and has licenses or license applications for three additional locations with a planned application for a fourth location, making five locations in total.

Pursuant to the agreement, Unrivaled will take full control of the Santa Ana Dispensary operations and will receive all economic benefits starting Sept. 1.

In addition, People’s holds additional licenses for Los Angeles and Riverside and has a license application pending in one additional location with the intent to file an additional application in September, all of which are included in the acquisition.

The company expects to have the Los Angeles and Riverside dispensaries operational by January and March 2022, respectively. Management believes these two new dispensaries, along with the existing Santa Ana location, will add more than $60 million in new revenues to the company in 2022. In addition, virtually all of the existing People’s corporate SG&A will be eliminated, increasing cash flow.

"We are delighted to expand our reach and increase the availability of Unrivaled’s existing brand portfolio to a broader audience of consumers in Southern California," said Unrivaled's CEO, Frank Knuettel II. "With these highly desirable and well located dispensary locations, we considerably expand our operating footprint and revenue base and have highlighted a number of key operational changes to further increase revenue and cash flow from the Santa Ana dispensary.

"With the close of the acquisition, we will be one of the few companies with strong retail footprints in both Northern and Southern California, and we are one step closer to establishing ourselves as one of the preeminent cannabis operations in California.”