Innovative Industrial Partners, a cannabis real estate investor based in San Diego, CA has received the go ahead from the Securities and Exchange Commission to proceed with the first ever cannabis real estate fund to be listed on the NYSE.
It’s current offering is small by traditional standards – just $67 million, but still a large step for the cannabis investing community. This is the first ever IPO for a cannabis-related fund to have its filing declared effective by the SEC. While there are many public cannabis companies, most are traded on OTC (over-the-counter) markets.
Innovative Industrial Properties will not be plant-touching itself. It will seek to buy commercial and industrial properties of $5-$30 million and then lease them to state-licensed cannabis producers with a focus on sale-leaseback transactions. Despite the SEC green lighting the fund, there still may be some legal risks. Securities lawyer Marc Ross, suggests that there could be an interpretation that Innovative Industrial Partners is conspiring to violate Federal Law by aiding and abetting cultivators.
According to the IIP website, the company pursues sale/leaseback opportunities in freestanding properties used for growing licensed medical-use cannabis.
