Acreage Announces Opening of Third The Botanist Dispensary in New Jersey

NEW YORK, March 31, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Acreage Holdings, Inc. (“Acreage”) (CSE:ACRG.A.U, ACRG.B.U), (OTCQX: ACRHF, ACRDF) a vertically integrated, multi-state operator of cannabis licenses and assets in the U.S., today announced the opening of The Botanist Williamstown – a medical cannabis dispensary – in Williamstown, New Jersey. In anticipation of today’s Williamstown opening, The Botanist celebrated with a private ribbon cutting ceremony with Monroe Township Mayor Richard DiLucia and other local business and civic leaders on Friday, March 26.

With the opening of The Botanist Williamstown, located at 2090 N Black Horse Pike, Acreage now operates three dispensaries in New Jersey, which is the maximum allowable by state law. Acreage’s two other dispensaries are in Egg Harbor Township at 100 Century Drive and in Atlantic City (its New Jersey flagship dispensary) at 1301 Boardwalk located on the iconic Atlantic City Boardwalk.

With the opening of this third dispensary, Acreage is one of the only licensed operators in the state of New Jersey to have built out the maximum allowable footprint of three dispensaries and a cultivation and processing facility. Additionally, once its two cultivation and processing expansion projects in New Jersey are completed, Acreage will be well positioned as a market leader in time for adult use sales to commence.

Developed by Acreage, The Botanist is both a retail and product brand, focused on using the holistic power of cannabis to help wellness seekers. The Botanist offers a wide selection of cannabis-derived products, features a “science meets nature” retail design, and aims to help guide guests as they discover cannabis and the power of herbal wellness through cannabis expertise and education. For more information on the brand or to learn about the cannabis plant and potential uses, visit ShopBotanist.com , follow The Botanist on Instagram ( @IAmTheBotanist ) and Facebook ( @IAmTheBotanist ), or sign up to receive updates via The Botanist newsletter by clicking here .

ABOUT ACREAGE

With its principal address in New York City, Acreage is a multi-state operator of cannabis ‎cultivation and retailing facilities in the U.S., including the company’s national retail store ‎brand, The Botanist . Acreage’s wide range of national and regionally available cannabis products include the award-winning The Botanist brand, the highly recognizable Tweed brand, the Prime medical brand in Pennsylvania, the Innocent edibles brand in Illinois and others. Acreage also owns Universal Hemp, LLC, a hemp subsidiary dedicated to the distribution, marketing and sale of CBD products throughout the U.S. Since its founding in 2011, Acreage has focused on building and scaling operations to create a ‎seamless, consumer-focused, branded experience. More information is available at www.acreageholdings.com.

On June 27, 2019, Acreage implemented an arrangement under section 288 of the Business Corporations ‎Act (British Columbia) with Canopy Growth Corporation (“Canopy Growth”), which was subsequently amended on September 23, 2020 (the “Amended Arrangement”)‎. Pursuant to the Amended Arrangement, ‎upon ‎the occurrence (or waiver by Canopy Growth) of changes 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”), Canopy Growth will, subject to the ‎satisfaction or waiver of certain closing conditions, acquire ‎all of the issued and outstanding Class E subordinate voting shares (the “Fixed Shares”) on the basis of 0.3048 of a Canopy Growth share per ‎Fixed Share (following the automatic conversion of the Class F multiple voting shares and subject to adjustment ‎in accordance with the terms of the arrangement agreement entered into between Acreage and Canopy Growth on April 18, 2019, as amended on May 15, 2019 and on September 23, 2020).

In addition, Canopy Growth holds an option, exercisable at the discretion of Canopy Growth, to acquire all of the ‎issued and outstanding Class D subordinate voting shares (the “Floating Shares”) at the time that Canopy Growth acquires the Fixed Shares, for ‎cash or Canopy Growth shares, as Canopy Growth may determine, at a price per Floating Share based ‎upon the 30-day volume-weighted average trading price of the Floating Shares on the CSE relative to the trading price of the Canopy Growth shares at the time of the ‎occurrence or waiver of the Triggering Event, subject to a minimum price of US$6.41 per Floating Share.

For more information about the Amended Arrangement please see the Acreage proxy statement and management information circular dated August 17, 2020 (the “Circular”) and the respective ‎information circulars of each of Acreage and Canopy Growth dated May 17, 2019, which are available on ‎Acreage’s and Canopy Growth’s respective profiles on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and filed with the SEC on the EDGAR website at www.sec.gov. 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” and ‎‎“forward-looking statements” within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation, ‎respectively. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein are forward-looking ‎information, including, for greater certainty, statements regarding the Amended Arrangement, including Acreage’s position in the New Jersey market, the likelihood of completion thereof, the ‎occurrence or waiver of the Triggering Event, the satisfaction or waiver of the closing conditions set out in the Arrangement Agreement and other statements with respect to the proposed transactions with Canopy Growth. ‎Often, but not always, forward-looking statements and information can be identified by the use of words such as ‎‎“plans”, “expects” or “does not expect”, “is expected”, “estimates”, “intends”, “anticipates” or “does not anticipate”, ‎or “believes”, or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results “may”, “could”, ‎‎‎“would”, “might” or “will” be taken, occur or be achieved. ‎

Forward-looking statements or information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other ‎factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Acreage or its ‎subsidiaries to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or ‎implied by the forward-looking statements or information contained in this news release. Risks, uncertainties and other factors involved with forward-looking ‎information could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ ‎materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including, but not ‎limited to financing and liquidity risks, and the risks disclosed in the Circular, Acreage’s ‎management information circular dated May 17, 2019 filed on May 23, 2019, Acreage’s annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended ‎December 31, 2020 ‎dated March 25, 2021 and Acreage’s other public filings, in each case filed with the SEC on the EDGAR website at www.sec.gov and with ‎Canadian securities regulators ‎and available on the issuer profile of Acreage on SEDAR 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. ‎

Although Acreage believes that the ‎assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information or forward-looking ‎statements in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information ‎and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. The ‎forward-looking information and forward-looking statements included in this news release are made as of ‎the date of this news release and Acreage does not undertake any obligation to publicly update such ‎forward-looking information or forward-looking statements to reflect new information, subsequent events ‎or otherwise unless required by applicable securities laws.

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.‎