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NEW YORK, Feb. 10, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Acreage Holdings, Inc. (“Acreage” or “Company”) (CSE: ACRG.U) (OTCQX: ACRGF) (FSE: 0VZ), one of the largest vertically integrated cannabis operators in the United States, today announced it has closed its previously announced private placement of special warrants (the “Private Placement”) for gross proceeds of US$30,000,000.

The special warrants ("Special Warrants") were issued at a price of US$4.93 (the “Issue Price”) per Special Warrant. The Special Warrants shall be automatically exercised (without payment of any further consideration) into units of the Company (the “Units”) on the earliest to occur of: (i) the date that is three business days following the date on which the Company files a prospectus supplement (the “Qualification Prospectus Supplement”) to the Company’s base shelf prospectus dated August 8, 2019 (the “Base Shelf Prospectus”) with the applicable securities regulatory authorities in the Province of Ontario and each of the jurisdictions in Canada in which the Special Warrants are sold (collectively, the “Securities Commissions”) qualifying the distribution of the Units issuable upon exercise of the Special Warrants and files a prospectus supplement to the shelf registration statement on Form F-10 (file no. 333-232313) with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (together with the Qualification Prospectus Supplement, the “Qualification Prospectus”), and (ii) the date that is four months and one day after the Closing Date (as hereinafter defined) (the “Automatic Conversion Date”), subject to adjustment in certain events.

Each Unit will consist of one Class A subordinate voting share of Acreage (“Subordinate Voting Share”) and one Subordinate Voting Share purchase warrant of the Company (a “Warrant”). Each Warrant will be exercisable to acquire one Subordinate Voting Share (a “Warrant Share”) for a period of five years following February 10, 2020 at an exercise price of US$5.80 per Warrant Share, subject to adjustment in certain events.

The lead subscriber was granted the option to purchase, at the Issue Price per Special Warrant, up to US$20,000,000 of additional Special Warrants ‎or, if the Qualification Prospectus has been filed prior to the time of ‎exercise, Units, exercisable at the lead subscriber’s option at any time up until 8:00 a.m. ‎‎(Eastern time) on March 16, 2020. The Qualification Prospectus shall ‎also qualify the distribution of the Units issuable upon exercise of such additional ‎Special Warrants (if the option is exercised prior to filing the Qualification ‎Prospectus) or issuable upon exercise of the option (if the option has ‎not been exercised prior to the filing of the Qualification Prospectus).‎

The net proceeds from the Private Placement will be used for working capital and general corporate purposes.

Canaccord Genuity Corp. acted as bookrunner and lead agent.

The Special Warrants issued pursuant to the Private Placement are subject to statutory and resale restrictions following February 10, 2020 (the “Closing Date”) subject to the earlier clearing of the Qualification Prospectus qualifying the distribution of the Units issuable upon exercise of the Special Warrants.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities in the United States. The Special Warrants being offered have not been, nor will they be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “U.S. Securities Act”) or the securities laws of any state of the United States and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons (as defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act) absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements. This news release will not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor will there be any sale of the securities in any state of the United States in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

ABOUT ACREAGE

Headquartered in New York City, Acreage is one of the largest vertically integrated, multi-state operators of cannabis licenses and assets in the U.S., according to publicly available information. Acreage owns licenses to operate or has management or consulting services or other agreements in place with license holders to assist in operations in 20 states (including pending acquisitions) with a population of approximately 180 million Americans, and an estimated 2022 total addressable market of US$16.7 billion in legal cannabis sales, according to Arcview Market Research. Acreage is dedicated to building and scaling operations to create a seamless, consumer-focused branded cannabis experience. Acreage debuted its national retail store brand, The Botanist, in 2018 and its award-winning consumer brands, The Botanist and Live Resin Project in 2019.

On June 27, 2019 Acreage implemented an arrangement under section 288 of the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia) (the “Arrangement”) with Canopy Growth. Pursuant to the Arrangement, the Acreage articles were amended to provide Canopy Growth with an option to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares in the capital of Acreage, with a requirement to do so, upon a change in federal laws in the United States to permit the general cultivation, distribution and possession of marijuana (as defined in the relevant legislation) or to remove the regulation of such activities from the federal laws of the United States (the “Triggering Event”), subject to the satisfaction of the conditions set out in the arrangement agreement entered into between Acreage and Canopy Growth on April 18, 2019, as amended on May 15, 2019 (the “Arrangement Agreement”). Acreage will continue to operate as a stand-alone entity and to conduct its business independently, subject to compliance with certain covenants contained in the Arrangement Agreement. Upon the occurrence or waiver of the Triggering Event, Canopy Growth will exercise the option and, subject to the satisfaction or waiver of certain conditions to closing set out in the Arrangement Agreement, acquire (the “Acquisition”) each of the Subordinate Voting Shares (following the automatic conversion of the Class B proportionate voting shares and Class C multiple voting shares of Acreage into Subordinate Voting Shares) in exchange for the payment of 0.5818 of a common share of Canopy Growth per Subordinate Voting Share (subject to adjustment in accordance with the terms of the Arrangement Agreement). If the Acquisition is completed, Canopy Growth will acquire all of the Acreage Shares, Acreage will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Canopy Growth and Canopy Growth will continue the operations of Canopy Growth and Acreage on a combined basis. For more information about the Arrangement and the Acquisition please see the respective information circulars of each of Acreage and Canopy Growth dated May 17, 2019, which are available on Canopy Growth’s and Acreage’s respective profiles on SEDAR at www.sedar.com . For additional information regarding Canopy Growth, please see Canopy Growth’s profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release and each of the documents referred to herein contains “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein are forward-looking information, including, for greater certainty, statements regarding the Private Placement, including the use of proceeds thereof, the filing of the Qualification Prospectus and the proposed transaction with Canopy Growth, including the anticipated benefits and likelihood of completion thereof.

Generally, forward-looking information may be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “plans”, “expects” or “does not expect”, “proposed”, “is expected”, “budgets”, “scheduled”, “estimates”, “forecasts”, “intends”, “anticipates” or “does not anticipate”, or “believes”, or variations of such words and phrases, or by the use of words or phrases which state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, or might occur or be achieved. There can be no assurance that such forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information. This forward-looking information reflects Acreage’s current beliefs and is based on information currently available to Acreage and on assumptions Acreage believes are reasonable. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Acreage to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such risks and other factors may include, but are not limited to: the ability of the parties to receive, in a timely manner and on satisfactory terms, the necessary regulatory approvals; the available funds of Acreage and the anticipated use of such funds; the availability of financing opportunities; the ability of Acreage and Canopy Growth to satisfy, in a timely manner, the conditions to the completion of the Acquisition; the likelihood of completion of the Acquisition; other expectations and assumptions concerning the transactions contemplated between Acreage and Canopy Growth; legal and regulatory risks inherent in the cannabis industry; risks associated with economic conditions, dependence on management and currency risk; risks relating to U.S. regulatory landscape and enforcement related to cannabis, including political risks; risks relating to anti-money laundering laws and regulation; other governmental and environmental regulation; public opinion and perception of the cannabis industry; risks related to contracts with third-party service providers; risks related to the enforceability of contracts; reliance on the expertise and judgment of senior management of Acreage; risks related to proprietary intellectual property and potential infringement by third parties; the concentrated voting control of Acreage’s founder and the unpredictability caused by Acreage’s capital structure; risks relating to the management of growth; increasing competition in the industry; risks inherent in an agricultural business; risks relating to energy costs; risks associated to cannabis products manufactured for human consumption including potential product recalls; reliance on key inputs, suppliers and skilled labor; cybersecurity risks; ability and constraints on marketing products; fraudulent activity by employees, contractors and consultants; tax and insurance related risks; risks related to the economy generally; risk of litigation; conflicts of interest; risks relating to certain remedies being limited and the difficulty of enforcement of judgments and effect service outside of Canada; risks related to future acquisitions or dispositions; sales by existing shareholders; and limited research and data relating to cannabis. A description of additional assumptions used to develop such forward-looking information and a description of additional risk factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking information can be found in Acreage’s disclosure documents, including the Circular and Acreage’s Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2018 filed on April 29, 2019, on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com. Although Acreage has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. Readers are further cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information as there can be no assurance that the plans, intentions or expectations upon which they are placed will occur. Forward-looking information contained in this news release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking information contained in this news release represents the expectations of Acreage as of the date of this news release and, accordingly, is subject to change after such date. However, Acreage expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable securities law.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider has reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this news release.