City View Green Holdings (CSE: CVGR) (OTC Pink: CVGRF) recently warned investors it was considering a pivot out of cannabis and becoming an investment issuer. Now it’s making that official.

The company has proposed to spin out its wholly owned subsidiary, 2590672 Ontario Inc. Following the spin-out transaction, the company said it would remain a reporting issuer to complete a reverse take-over transaction with a business that has yet to be identified.

City View also said that the spin-out would allow shareholders to realize the expected growth and returns from the cannabis sector through direct ownership in the “SubCo” – or the spin-out property – and that it was expected to file with the Canadian Securities Exchange to list the shares there. That exchange ratio has yet to be determined.

Target acquisition

As part of the proposed plan, City View told the market that it has entered into an agreement of principle with an arm’s length party referred to as the “Target.” City View will buy an ownership interest in said Target in exchange for the issuance of shares in the capital of City View.

While it didn’t name the company, City View did say that the Target is a technology company with a primary focus on assisting online creators and influencers to monetize their YouTube, Twitch and X livestreams by matching the individual creators and influencers with brands.

“The creators and influencers will use the proprietary live broadcast software to integrate the ads into their livestreams. The Target, using AI, will be able to track all interactions by the viewers with the ads, bill the advertisers accordingly and remit payment to the creators and influencers,” the company said in its statement.

Despite the lengthy description, City View acknowledged it is still doing its due diligence on the company and has signed no definitive agreement.

The proposed plan is also dependent upon a shareholder vote approving the move.

Standard Wellness Holdings LLC secured a $14 million senior secured credit facility from Advanced Flower Capital (NASDAQ: AFCG), the companies announced Thursday.

The vertically integrated cannabis company will use the funding to refinance existing debt, including full repayment of its debt facility with Focus Growth Capital Partners and early repayment of a seller note with Columbia Care, according to the announcement. That debt was incurred when Standard Wellness acquired the Cannabist dispensary in Springville, Utah.

Additionally, the funds will fully finance the acquisition of a dispensary license in St. Louis, though that acquisition remains subject to regulatory approval.

The new credit facility bears an interest rate of 12.5% with AFC, a longstanding lender to the cannabis industry, specifically privately owned companies.

Kyle Ciccarello, CFO of Standard Wellness, said the repayment of the Focus Growth debt and early retirement of the Columbia Care note “reflect Standard Wellness’s proactive approach to managing its financial obligations and optimizing its capital structure.”

The AFC credit facility will help Standard streamline its debt structure, eliminate legacy obligation and invest in strategic acquisitions, according to Maloof.

The St. Louis dispensary acquisition is described as a key component of the company’s long-term growth strategy.

Founded in 2017 in Ohio, Standard Wellness operates across Ohio, Missouri and Utah, and has cultivation, processing and dispensary licenses in Maryland. The company operates five retail locations under The Forest brand and employs approximately 350 people.

Standard made the first-ever legal marijuana sale in Ohio through its dispensary The Forest Sandusky and completing the first delivery to a Utah pharmacy in February 2020, according to the company.

Gramercy Capital Group LLC (through INTE Securities LLC) served as financial advisor, while Feuerstein Kulick LLP acted as legal counsel to Standard Wellness.

State lawmakers across the U.S. are grappling with how to regulate the booming market for psychoactive hemp products, and a pair of the South’s biggest economies recently tried to take steps to rein in the industry.

In Alabama, lawmakers moved forward with efforts to impose stricter regulations on products like delta-8 THC despite industry pushback, while a similar attempt in Georgia stalled, according to recent reports from state news outlets.

Alabama

Alabama State Rep. Andy Whitt, a Republican out of Harvest, recently filed House Bill 445 in Alabama, which would impose regulations on all consumable hemp products similar to those on alcohol, the Alabama Daily News reported.

“In 2023, the Alabama Poison Information Center investigated 235 cases involving delta-8, and more than 40% of calls were for children six and under,” Whitt wrote in a recent op-ed for the Alabama Daily News.

HB445 sets up licensing requirements across the consumable hemp vertical, with annual fees ranging from $1,000 for retailers to $5,000 for manufacturers and wholesalers.

The bill also imposes product standards limiting THC content to 5 milligrams per serving for beverages and edibles, and 0.3% total THC on a dry weight basis for other products. Additionally, it requires child-resistant packaging and detailed labeling that includes warnings about potential intoxicating effects, as well as age-gate individuals 21 and older and establishing a 7% excise tax on gross sales, with proceeds split between the state’s coffers, counties and municipalities.

Republican Sen. Tim Melson, from Florence, tried for an even stricter approach earlier this year, filing a bill that would have outright banned all psychoactive cannabinoid products in Alabama by classifying them as Schedule I controlled substances. After that effort failed to gain traction, Melson filed Senate Bill 237, which, similar to Whitt’s proposal, would have regulated these products like alcohol, according to the outlet.

The bill failed in a Senate committee in a tied 4-4 vote, with industry representatives speaking out against the measure.

“It puts hemp under ABC which oversees liquor, not agricultural products,” said Molly Cole with the Alabama Hemp & Vape Association at a public hearing. “This move not only burdens an already-stretched agency, but it also risks penalizing and criminalizing hemp products more harshly than alcohol and tobacco.”

Melson defended his proposal despite the resistance.

“If I had an unregulated product that I was able to take to the market and charge what I want for it, I probably wouldn’t want it regulated either,” Melson told Alabama Daily News. “I’m just trying to get it under control. I keep getting calls from people having children show up in the ER for taking something they’re not even supposed to be allowed to buy.”

Melson told the Alabama Daily News on Thursday that the bill was “not dead yet,” with Whitt’s HB445 set to be heard in the House Committee on Health at an as-of-yet undetermined date.

Georgia

Meanwhile, in neighboring Georgia, a similar effort to ban intoxicating hemp products stalled, giving businesses a reprieve for at least another year, according to HempToday.

Senate Bill 254, sponsored by Republican Sen. Bill Cowsert, which sought to ban any hemp-derived products containing THC, passed the Georgia Senate in early March with a 42-14 vote but saw strong pushback in the House Regulated Industries Committee, chaired by Republican Rep. Alan Powell.

“We are putting loaded guns in people’s hands in the form of a can or a gummy, and we need to protect them,” Cowsert warned during debates over the bill, the outlet reported.

However, Powell’s committee ultimately rejected Cowsert’s restrictions, opting instead for a different version that peeled away all proposed limitations on the hemp industry and proposed expanding the sale of hemp products to state-licensed package stores, HempToday reported.