We have another teaser….this morning, Schultze Special Purpose Acquisition Corp. (SAMA), announced ahead of their forthcoming deadline extension vote that they have signed a non-binding LOI with Clever Leaves, a multi-national cannabis operator.

Interestingly, this is not a teaser where the SPAC makes you guess who they’re buying.  Instead, SAMA is stating exactly who it is they’re negotiating with and have even provide quotes from Clever Leave’s CEO.  This deal sounds fully-baked and yet they still do not have signed a definitive agreement. Perhaps Clever Leaves is waiting to see the results of the extension vote and how much cash is left in trust before they commit to terms. However, without a signed definitive agreement, we can’t technically move SAMA into the “announced” column just yet.

Nevertheless, today’s press release did provide some information on the intended target.  Clever Leaves operates globally with operations and facilities in Colombia, Portugal, the United States, Canada and Germany, producing pharmaceutical grade cannabis. The Company currently cultivates in over 1.9 million square feet of greenhouses, making it one of the largest cannabis cultivation and extraction companies globally.  Clever Leaves is also in the process of becoming one of the few cannabis companies in the world, and the only cannabis company in Latin America, to be granted a European Union Good Manufacturing Practice (“EU GMP”) certification for extracts, subject to successful completion of the certification process.

We currently have seven cannabis-focused SPACs out searching for targets, but it appears SAMA, which initially intended to focus on restructured companies, beat them all to announcing a cannabis combination.  To-date, only MTech (now Akerna – KERN) has closed a cannabis combination.  Although, Akerna was only “cannabis-adjacent” since it provided compliance technology to the sector, i.e., it was not involved in production or distribution.  If SAMA does “definitively” announce and this looks like a good deal, this could be the shot in the arm the rest of the field needs to announce their own cannabis deals. A “contact high”, so to speak.

SAMA goes to a vote next Tuesday, June 9th, and it sounds like we can expect a full announcement and definitive agreement shortly thereafter.  We’ll have to wait and see.