iAnthus Capital Acquires Medical Cannabis Business of GrowHealthy Holdings, Marking Full-Scale Entry into Fast Growing Florida Market

NEW YORK, NY and TORONTO, ON--(Marketwired - January 17, 2018) - iAnthus Capital Holdings, Inc. ("iAnthus" or "the Company"), (CSE: IAN) (CSE: IAN.CN) (CNSX: IAN) (OTCQB: ITHUF), which owns, operates, and partners with licensed cannabis operations throughout the United States, announced today that it has acquired through merger and acquisition transactions substantially all of the assets of GrowHealthy Holdings, LLC ("GrowHealthy") and certain related subsidiaries (all transactions together, the "Acquisition", and all assets of GrowHealthy and its subsidiaries collectively, the "Business"). The Acquisition completes iAnthus' full-scale entry into the rapidly expanding Florida medical cannabis market, which is projected by Arcview Market Research to grow into a US$1 billion market by 2020 and which has seen a 300% increase in the number of registered patients over the past six (6) months. iAnthus previously acquired approximately six percent (6%) of GrowHealthy in a preferred share purchase in October, 2017.

GrowHealthy and its affiliate, McCrory's Sunny Hill Nursery, LLC ("McCrory's") comprise one of just thirteen (13) current Florida Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers ("MMTCs") licensed to provide medical cannabis under Florida's medical marijuana law. The Acquisition includes GHIAA Management, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of GrowHealthy that holds an exclusive 40-year management contract to operate the medical cannabis business associated with the MMTC license issued to McCrory's (the "License"), together with an option to acquire 100% of McCrory's for a nominal consideration, pending approval of the Florida Department of Health.

The total consideration paid for the Acquisition was US$17,500,000 in cash and US$30,500,000 was satisfied in iAnthus common shares at a price per share of US$2.52.(1) The cash portion of the consideration for the Acquisition includes the purchase by the Company of the rights to a US$5,000,000 performance bond posted with the state in connection with the issuance of the License. Contemporaneously with the closing of the Acquisition, the Company's 2,925,003 preferred shares in GrowHealthy were redeemed in return for US$3,000,000 paid to the Company at closing.