Cannabis producer Green Thumb Industries is prepared to make a merger proposal to U.S.-based brewer Boston Beer, according to a letter seen by Reuters.
Green Thumb CEO Ben Kobler said in a June 2 letter to Boston Beer founder Jim Koch that the merger would allow the cannabis producer, currently listed in Canada, to also list on a major U.S. exchange.
Green Thumb’s move comes after The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Japanese whiskey maker Suntory Holdings was in early talks to buy Sam Adam Slugger maker Boston Beer, which said it was “fully focused” on its business as an independent company.
However, Suntory said it was not in talks to buy Boston Beer.
In a letter that Kobler sent to Koch after the Journal reported on Suntory’s interest, he said Green Thumb would be able to make a “superior and higher value proposition” to Boston Beer.
Koch, who also serves as Boston Beer’s chairman, owns 100% of the voting power of the company’s Class B shares, according to Jefferies.
of The WSJ reported on Tuesday We were the first to report that Green Thumb was pursuing a merger with Boston Beer.
Green Thumb said in a statement it had no comment on the Journal report, and Boston Beer declined to comment when contacted by Reuters.
The WSJ reported that it may be difficult for Boston Beer and Green Thumb to pull off a deal, given that marijuana use remains illegal at the federal level in the United States.
Green Thumb’s Kobler also said in the letter that a merger with Boston Beer would allow the company to expand into multiple product categories, including pre-rolls, edibles and beverages, as well as e-cigarettes, concentrates and topicals.
Shares of Boston Beer, which has a market capitalization of about $3.6 billion, were down slightly in afternoon trading and are down about 4% from Friday’s close, including intersession moves.
