Ayr dismisses talk its exiting Connecticut marijuana market

Rumors that a second marijuana multistate operator is planning to exit Connecticut are raising questions about the state’s strict regulations and expensive licensing fees.Meanwhile, despite having made other consolidation moves across the country, Ayr Wellness is shrugging off talk that it’s seeking to sell off a license it acquired in the limited-license state only last year.

ADVERTISEMENT Erin Gorman Kirk, the state’s cannabis ombudsman, reiterated her earlier statements to CT News Junkie and the Connecticut East This Week podcast that the company is planning to shop its permit – following the lead of Acreage Holdings, another publicly traded MSO that recently sold off stores in Connecticut.Ayr spokesperson Rob Vanisko directed MJBizDaily to a statement provided to other media in which the Miami-based company said it remains “operational” in Connecticut.

The company runs a single marijuana store in Manchester, a town to the east of Hartford, which it operates in partnership with a social equity license holder.The situation represents another complication for Ayr, which is selling off retail licenses in Illinois amid a debt crisis and a reported operating loss of $133.

million in the fourth quarter of 2024.The company announced on June 13 that it would not submit quarterly earnings on time “primarily due to … ongoing negotiations with its creditors.” Ayr is one of several MSOs with massive liabilities coming due over the next 18 months.

In Ayr’s case, it has $358 million in loans maturing in 2026, according to filings.Ayr ‘making concerted effort to consolidate,’ exec says Connecticut appears to be one of Ayr’s least important markets – and, possibly, the one it could most afford to divest.

Seventy percent of Ayr’s retail operations are in Florida, where the company is opening a new cultivation facility later this year.During a March earnings call, Ayr President George DeNard...