DLA Piper Canada acting for Charlotte's Web in proposed acquisition of Abacus Health

On March 23, 2020, Charlotte's Web Holdings, Inc. (“Charlotte's Web‎”) (TSX:CWEB,OTCQX:CWBHF) announced that they have entered into a definitive arrangement agreement with Abacus Health Products, Inc. ("Abacus") (CSE:ABCS,OTCQB:ABAHF)‎ in which Charlotte's Web would acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of Abacus.‎ DLA Piper Canada is pleased to be acting for Charlotte’s Web on this transaction.

Charlotte's Web is a market leader in hemp extract and hemp-derived cannabidiol ("CBD") wellness products. Abacus Health is a leader in over-the-counter topical products combining active pharmaceutical ingredients with hemp extract. This acquisition would expand Charlotte's Web product portfolio in the fast growing Topicals category, make it a best-in-class innovation leader across all hemp derived category segments and create the world's largest vertically integrated hemp-derived CBD company.

The DLA Piper team in this transaction is led by Jarrod Isfeld (Calgary), Russel Drew (Toronto) and Jeff Baglio (San Diego) and ‎included partners Kevin Fritz and Sangeetha Punniyamoorthy (Toronto), SeoJung Park and Ute Krudewagen (Silicon Valley), Stefanie Fogel and Margaret Craig (Boston), Paolo Morante (New York) and Julia Kovacs (Washington); counsel Andrew Much (Atlanta); and associates Amanda Vogeli (Calgary), Mackenzie Clark (Toronto), Steffani Stevens and Kamla Topsey (San Diego), James Rusert and Julie Franki (Atlanta), Blake Jackson, Yana Zubareva and Katherine Cheung (Silicon Valley), Carissa Bouwer (Sacramento) and James Duchesne (Washington, DC).

DLA Piper has a leading global M&A practice and has been the highest ranked legal advisor in the world for M&A deal volume for ten consecutive years, according to Mergermarket's league tables. Over the past decade, DLA Piper has handled more than 5,000 reported M&A transactions globally, valued at a total of more than US$950 billion. Further information on DLA Piper’s M&A services can be found here.