Skymint’s primary lender, Tropics, LP, submitted the winning bid to purchase Skymint at the Aug. 8 auction held by the Receiver Gene Kohut, according to Kohut in an interview with Four20Post.Com.
A hearing before Ingram County Circuit Court Judge Joyce Draganchuk scheduled for Aug. 23 to approve the purchase by Tropics was rescheduled for late September at the court’s request in order to accommodate a criminal trial, Kohut said. Skymint went into receivership on March 3 after Tropics filed its lawsuit.
Tropics has until the sale hearing to determine what if any of Skymint’s assets relating to its dispensaries, grows and processing centers, it wishes to leave behind Kohut added. If such exists, the receiver will conduct a sale at a later time of those assets, he said.
While Kohut declined to specify Tropics’ winning bid, Crain’s Detroit reported Tropics offered $109.4 million in May. Cannabis industry insiders said Skymint’s assets aren’t even valued at the original $127 million note that Tropics lent to Skymint, making them quite unattractive to cannabis competitors.
Tropics even had to lend Skymint more than $5 million to continue operations. The investor also lent $70 million to Skymint to acquire local competitor 2Fifteen Cannabis.
But Tropics, in court documents, alleged Skymint was burning through $3 million in cash per month and generated only $110 million in revenue in 2022, $153 million below its forecast of $263 million in sales for the year.
A second lawsuit was filed concurrently in Oakland County Circuit Court by New York-based cannabis investment firm Merida Capital Holdings and its affiliates against Green Peak and its executives alleging misrepresentation of financials and mismanagement. That lawsuit is pending.
This story was written by Four20Post Editor Mike Brennan.