Curaleaf Holdings went over Aurora Cannabis management on Tuesday, sending a letter directly to Aurora shareholders urging them to tender into the outstanding acquisition offer that Aurora's board rejected three weeks prior. The move marks the first major hostile tender in North American cannabis since federal reclassification discussions began in December, and the first time a U.S. operator has bypassed a Canadian LP's board at scale.
Aurora trades on NASDAQ at $6.82, giving it a market capitalization near $1.9B. Curaleaf's all-stock offer values Aurora at roughly $2.4B on a fully diluted basis, a 26% premium to the thirty-day VWAP before the initial approach. Aurora's board called the offer inadequate and opportunistically timed. Curaleaf countered that Aurora shareholders deserve the chance to decide without board interference, citing Aurora's 18-month revenue decline and Curaleaf's $1.6B in trailing twelve-month sales. The letter went to registered shareholders of record as of Friday.
The timing matters because the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is expected to finalize cannabis rescheduling from Schedule I to Schedule III by late April, which would allow U.S. operators to deduct business expenses under Section 280E and dramatically improve EBITDA margins. Curaleaf currently operates 154 dispensaries across 19 states and would gain Aurora's 1.6M square feet of Canadian cultivation capacity plus its international medical distribution into 25 countries. Aurora's EU-GMP certified facilities in Denmark and Germany are worth more under a rescheduled regime where cross-border pharma partnerships become structurally viable. The Canadian LP sector has lost 74% of its value since the 2021 peak, making this the cheapest dollar-per-kilogram production capacity available to a scaled U.S. operator.
Allocators should watch three things. First, whether Aurora's largest institutional holders—including ETF sponsors and Quebec pension funds—publicly support or reject the tender by the March 28 deadline Curaleaf is pushing. Second, if Curaleaf raises its offer or adds a cash component to bypass currency risk, which would require new debt or a bought deal that tests U.S. cannabis credit markets. Third, whether another Canadian LP or a U.S. competitor makes a counter-bid, which would validate Curaleaf's valuation floor and likely trigger a 15-20% move in the entire Canadian cannabis index within 48 hours.
The tender closes April 11 unless extended. Curaleaf has not yet filed a 13D showing share accumulation in the open market, which means the offer remains entirely conditional on board capitulation or shareholder override.